Time Warner Cable shares spiked 5 percent in the last 14 minutes of trading Thursday — to $139 a share — as a report spread across Wall Street that the cable company would be likely to accept a buyout at $150 to $160 a share.
“I am the perfect guy to manage the M&A component out there,” Rob Marcus, the company’s incoming CEO said in a Bloomberg interview. “As much as I’d like to be modest, I am kind of built to manage situations like this.”
Marcus is seen as more open to a takeover bid than current boss Glenn Britt, who is stepping down as CEO on Jan. 1.
While the Bloomberg report did not quote Marcus as saying $150 a share will be acceptable, it did refer to a person familiar with the situation as saying that would be a sweet spot.
Some in the business laughed off TWC being worth $150 a share.
Investors must have felt the same way because, just as quickly as TWC shares galloped higher, they reversed course and closed just about unchanged, at $132.53.
TWC shareholders have already seen a 45 percent leap in the value of their stock over the past six months thanks to Liberty Media’s calls for consolidation in the cable industry.
Liberty Media holds a 27 percent stake in much smaller Charter Communications, which is said to be interested in making a bid for TWC.
Both Comcast and Cox Communications have also discussed possible efforts to acquire pieces of TWC.
MoffettNathanson cable analyst Craig Moffett said in a note last week that TWC is worth around $120 per share.
The company is overly reliant on high broadband prices to show growth, Moffett wrote in the report.
TWC surprised the Street during the third quarter, losing 304,000 video customers and 24,000 high-speed Internet customers.