Charter Communications, the 10th largest US cable company, is weighing a bid for Time Warner Cable, the country’s No. 2 cable company, according to a report Friday.
The offer is likely to come before Dec. 31, the report said.
If undertaken and completed, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge may be the next top dog at TWC.
John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, which owns a 27 percent stake in Charter, is a firm believer that the cable industry needs to consolidate.
All three companies declined to comment — but the report, by Reuters, sent shares of Charter and TWC up in late trading on Friday.
Charter shares gained 3 percent, to close at $138.07. The Rutledge-led company is up 81 percent this year.
A Liberty pitch to TWC would likely point to the value of having a CEO like Rutledge come to its rescue.
TWC shares gained 2.8 percent Friday, to $123.51. They are up 27 percent this year, just ahead of the rise in the S&P 500.
TWC reported miserable results on Wednesday, saying it lost 300,000 video subscribers along with broadband and phone customer in the third quarter.
Separately, its current CEO, Glenn Britt, who is retiring on Dec. 31, announced that the cancer, which he beat five years ago, had returned.
“In some ways the stars are aligned,” Chris Marangi, an associate portfolio manager at Gabelli Value Fund, told The Post, “but [TWC] isn’t going quietly.”
“The bigger issue of the financing window is open today,” he added. ‘“It’s unclear how long it will continue to be open.”