AI interpretation based on checked source excerpts. Issuer assertions and evidence limitations remain explicit.
Policy quality-scores-2: six equally weighted categories. The overall score requires full coverage. Missing inputs are not zero. Qualitative grades are sourced interpretations, not probabilities. 6/6 · 18/10/2026
Moat31
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
structural advantage · 1/4 · The network and non-cancelable business contracts are real assets, but relative cost superiority and protected local scale are unproven. Realized Internet losses show that the footprint does not prevent competitive encroachment.
durability · 1/4 · Business contracts offer finite protection averaging approximately three years. Alternative access technologies and an unfinished upgrade initiative weaken the case for persistent company-wide protection.
customer dependency · 2/4 · Non-cancelable business subscriptions demonstrate contractual dependency. Mobile additions provide indirect demand evidence, while Internet losses and comparable video alternatives show limited broader lock-in.
erosion resilience · 1/4 · Mobile growth and improved video losses provide partial offsets, but Internet losses and declining revenue and operating earnings show current erosion despite competitive responses.
Pricing power38
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
realized pricing · 1/4 · The strongest realized evidence is incomplete programming-cost pass-through with adverse video economics. Management describes lower bundled pricing to drive growth; no realized residential price series establishes broader pricing strength.
retention · 2/4 · Business contracts support persistence within their terms. Indirect operating evidence is mixed: mobile lines increased and video losses improved, but Internet customers declined. Net additions and losses do not establish churn rates.
margin resilience · 1/4 · Second-quarter Adjusted EBITDA declined 4.3% against a 1.7% revenue decline, and first-half results also weakened. Realized video cost-pass-through limitations reinforce fragile resilience; positive cash generation provides an offset.
contractual freedom · 2/4 · Management describes promotional-expiration price increases, indicating some pricing discretion. Multi-year bundle guarantees constrain repricing, while non-cancelable business terms protect demand without establishing unrestricted ability to change contracted prices.
Predictability92
Five consecutive annual periods. Equal weights: nondeclining revenue frequency; revenue-growth volatility (5–40pp); positive FCF frequency; FCF-margin volatility (3–20pp). Stability indicator, not a growth forecast.
- Nondeclining revenue years (%)
- 75.00
- Revenue growth volatility (pp)
- 1.87
- Positive FCF years (%)
- 100.00
- FCF margin volatility (pp)
- 3.99
Financial strength5
Equal-weight grades: debt/FCF (1–8x), net debt/earnings before interest and tax (0–5x), interest service (1–12x), current ratio (0.75–2x). Earnings use reported operating income, or reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense when operating income is unavailable. Interest service uses earnings/interest expense; if unavailable, it uses reported operating cash flow/cash interest paid, without relabeling cash paid as accrued expense. Nonpositive cash flow/earnings score 0 for their service component; reported zero interest with a positive numerator scores 100. Net cash scores 100 for net leverage. Missing disclosures remain unavailable. General nonfinancial-company rubric, not a credit rating; exceptional and nonoperating gains are not normalized out. IFRS finance-cost and cash-flow classifications retain their reported scope.
- debtFcfGrade
- 0.00
- netDebtEbitGrade
- 0.00
- interestCoverageGrade
- 20.24
- currentRatioGrade
- 0.00
- Debt / FCF (x)
- 21.45
- Net debt / operating income (x)
- 7.30
- Current ratio (x)
- 0.39
- cashInterestPaid
- 4983.00
- cashInterestCoverage
- 3.23
Capital allocation80
Three-year equal-weight indicators: pretax return on average invested capital (0–25%; equity + debt − cash, each year and its prior year), share-count growth (0–5%, lower better), share-based cost/revenue (2–20%, lower better), consolidated FCF/net income (0–1x). Return uses reported operating income or, if unavailable, EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense; exceptional/nonoperating gains are not normalized out. Share-based cost uses the reported cash-flow add-back or, if absent, separately reported recognized compensation expense; the latter never becomes an FCF adjustment. Nonpositive net income scores 0 for cash conversion; absent income/FCF stays unavailable. Nonpositive invested capital has no defined return and remains unavailable. Does not establish acquisition quality or buyback timing.
- 3-year pre-tax operating return (%)
- 11.45
- 3-year average dilution (%)
- -5.75
- 3-year average SBC / revenue (%)
- 1.23
- cashConversionGrade
- 74.50
Management50
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
capital discipline · 2/4 · 2025 operating cash flow and free cash flow increased despite substantial investment, and rural spending produced activated passings. However, 2025 repurchases exceeded disclosed free cash flow, first-half 2026 free cash flow declined, debt requires significant funding, and an actual related-party loan adds allocation complexity. These facts support a mixed assessment without establishing investment returns or repurchase value.
incentive alignment · 2/4 · Actual multi-year equity grants and underwater outstanding options demonstrate exposure to shareholder outcomes. Bonus weighting emphasizes Adjusted EBITDA, and ownership guidelines lack a compliance deadline. Closing-contingent special awards are excluded from evidence of actual grants or vesting.
execution · 2/4 · Activated rural passings and mobile additions demonstrate delivery, while 2025 cash generation improved. Internet losses and weaker 2026 operating results show uneven commercial execution. Customer-experience execution is assessed indirectly from these results, not from unverified churn claims.
governance · 2/4 · A majority-independent board determination and separate Audit Committee sessions establish oversight mechanisms. Stockholder-linked directors have disclosed audit-independence limitations, and actual related-party financing introduces conflicts requiring oversight. The passages do not establish exceptional governance effectiveness or misconduct.
Evidence
We are a leading broadband connectivity company with services available to 58 million homes and small to large businesses across 41 states through our Spectrum® brand.
Company strategy: footprint · Filed 12/03/2026
We currently offer Spectrum Internet products with speeds up to 1 Gbps across our entire footprint and multi-gigabit data speeds in a portion of our footprint.
MD&A overview: current Internet speeds · Filed 24/07/2026
Our network evolution initiative remains on track to deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speeds across our entire footprint with convergence everywhere we operate.
MD&A overview: network evolution initiative · Filed 24/07/2026
Our Internet service faces competition from other companies’ FTTH, cell phone home Internet service, Internet delivered via satellite and DSL services.
Risk factors: Internet competition · Filed 30/01/2026
Overview The competitive environment continued to challenge our Internet customer growth in the second quarter of 2026 and we lost 172,000 Internet customers.
MD&A overview: second-quarter 2026 Internet customer losses · Filed 24/07/2026
We remain focused on improving customer results through the power of our advanced fiber-powered network and cutting-edge connectivity products and services, and our simplified pricing and packaging strategy that better utilizes our seamless connectivity and entertainment products to offer lower promotional and persistent bundled pricing to drive growth.
MD&A overview: lower promotional and persistent bundled pricing strategy · Filed 24/07/2026
We realized revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and income from operations during the periods presented as follows (in millions; all percentages are calculated using whole numbers; minor differences may exist due to rounding): Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2026 2025 % Change 2026 2025 % Change Revenues $ 13,526 $ 13,766 (1.7) % $ 27,123 $ 27,501 (1.4) % Adjusted EBITDA $ 5,449 $ 5,693 (4.3) % $ 11,086 $ 11,456 (3.2) % Income from operations $ 3,063 $ 3,279 (6.5) % $ 6,271 $ 6,516 (3.7) % Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income attributable to Charter shareholders plus net income attributable to noncontrolling interest, interest expense, net, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock compensation expense, other income (expenses), net and other operating (income) expenses, net, such as special charges, merger and acquisition costs and (gain) loss on sale or retirement of assets.
MD&A: revenue and operating performance · Filed 24/07/2026
Services to mid-market & large business clients include more tailored communications products and managed service solutions to larger businesses, as well as high-capacity last-mile data connectivity services to mobile and wireline carriers on a wholesale basis.
Revenue recognition: mid-market and large-business service scope · Filed 30/01/2026
Services are primarily offered on a subscription basis with a contractually specified and non-cancelable service period, which is generally one to seven years with a weighted average term of approximately three years.
Revenue recognition: non-cancelable subscription periods · Filed 30/01/2026
DBS providers offer aggressive promotional pricing and video services that are comparable in many respects to our residential video service.
Business competition: satellite video pricing and comparable services · Filed 30/01/2026
Our residential video service also faces competition from large telecommunications companies, primarily Verizon, which offer wireline video services in significant portions of our operating areas.
Business competition: named wireline video competitor · Filed 30/01/2026
Although we pass along amounts paid for local broadcast station retransmission consent to the majority of our video customers, the inability to fully pass programming cost increases on to our video customers has had, and is expected in the future to have, an adverse impact on our cash flow and operating margins associated with the video product.
Risk factors: realized inability to fully pass through programming costs · Filed 30/01/2026
Mobile lines grew by 406,000 while video customer losses improved versus the prior year period driven by improvements to our product offerings with customers finding value in bundling our seamless connectivity and entertainment products.
MD&A overview: mobile growth and improved video losses · Filed 24/07/2026
Our bundle options utilize our unique product assets with multi-year guaranteed pricing and speed options that create more choices and provide faster speeds.
Business: multi-year guaranteed bundle pricing · Filed 30/01/2026
We believe Spectrum pricing and packaging: •offers a higher quality and more value-based set of services relative to our competitors, including fast Internet speeds, with integrated mobile and video options and a transparent pricing structure; •offers simplicity for customers to understand our offers, and for our employees in service delivery; •drives our ability to package more services at the time of sale, thus increasing revenue per customer; •drives higher customer satisfaction, lower service calls and churn; and •allows for gradual price increases at the end of promotional periods.
Business: management beliefs about pricing, packaging and churn · Filed 30/01/2026
We spent $391 million and $818 million on our subsidized rural construction initiative during the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and activated approximately 127,000 and 216,000 subsidized rural passings, respectively.
MD&A overview: rural construction spending and activated passings · Filed 24/07/2026
A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow to net income attributable to Charter shareholders and net cash flows from operating activities, respectively, is as follows (dollars in millions): Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2026 2025 2026 2025 Net income attributable to Charter shareholders $ 1,292 $ 1,301 $ 2,455 $ 2,518 Plus: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 232 194 432 386 Interest expense, net 1,276 1,263 2,532 2,504 Income tax expense 475 414 940 859 Depreciation and amortization 2,197 2,176 4,408 4,357 Stock compensation expense 138 157 341 379 Other, net (161) 188 (22) 453 Adjusted EBITDA $ 5,449 $ 5,693 $ 11,086 $ 11,456 Net cash flows from operating activities $ 3,925 $ 3,600 $ 8,229 $ 7,836 Less: Purchases of property, plant and equipment (2,871) (2,874) (5,726) (5,273) Change in accrued expenses related to capital expenditures (85) 320 (162) 47 Free cash flow $ 969 $ 1,046 $ 2,341 $ 2,610 Liquidity and Capital Resources Overview We have significant amounts of debt and require significant cash to fund principal and interest payments on our debt.
MD&A: cash-flow reconciliation and debt funding requirements · Filed 24/07/2026
A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow to net income attributable to Charter shareholders and net cash flows from operating activities, respectively, is as follows (dollars in millions): Year Ended December 31, 2025 2024 Net income attributable to Charter shareholders $4,987 $5,083 Plus: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 779 770 Interest expense, net 5,042 5,229 Income tax expense 1,692 1,649 Depreciation and amortization 8,711 8,673 Stock compensation expense 673 651 Other, net 824 514 Adjusted EBITDA $22,708 $22,569 Net cash flows from operating activities $16,077 $14,430 Less: Purchases of property, plant and equipment (11,659) (11,269) Change in accrued expenses related to capital expenditures 586 1,096 Free cash flow $5,004 $4,257 The above schedule is presented in order to reconcile Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, non-GAAP measures, to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in accordance with Section 401(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Appendix A: 2025 and 2024 cash-flow reconciliation · Filed 12/03/2026
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, Charter also achieved the following financial performance milestones: • Adjusted EBITDA grew by 0.6% to $22.7 billion(1) • Generated free cash flow of $5.0 billion(1) • Charter also purchased approximately 17.1 million shares of Charter Class A common stock and Charter Holdings common units for approximately $5.4 billion in 2025 at an average price per share of $316.80.
Compensation discussion: 2025 financial results and repurchases · Filed 12/03/2026
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement and Stockholders and Letter Agreement Amendment, in May 2026, Charter advanced a term loan to Liberty Broadband in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $359 million included in other noncurrent assets on the consolidated balance sheets as of June 30, 2026.
Related-party transactions: actual Liberty Broadband loan · Filed 24/07/2026
Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2026 2025 2026 2025 Stock options 52,100 39,600 2,431,100 1,447,300 Restricted stock 15,000 11,500 15,300 11,500 Restricted stock units 136,700 28,300 2,177,300 1,183,500 Stock options and restricted stock units generally cliff vest three years from the date of grant.
Stock compensation plans: actual grants and general vesting terms · Filed 24/07/2026
In particular, all of Charter’s outstanding stock option awards granted since May 2016 are underwater, and the weighted average strike price of such options held by the NEOs ($370.69) is 78% higher than the December 31, 2025 closing stock price.
Compensation discussion: outstanding underwater options · Filed 12/03/2026
For all NEOs, the metrics were total revenue (excluding mobile device related revenue) weighted at 15%, total Adjusted EBITDA weighted at 55%, and Strategic Objectives weighted at 30%.
Compensation discussion: executive bonus metric weights · Filed 12/03/2026
Executive Officer Ownership Multiple of Salary (for employees) or Cash Retainer (for directors) CEO 5x Executive Vice President 2x Other Covered Individuals 1x Outside Director 3x In determining whether a covered individual has met the applicable stock ownership level, management evaluates annually stock beneficially owned outright and 25% of the value of time-based restricted stock and restricted stock units that are only subject to time-based vesting (the performance-based restricted stock unit awards do not count toward the ownership guidelines).
Compensation governance: ownership guidelines · Filed 12/03/2026
There is no time requirement to meet the guidelines.
Compensation governance: absence of ownership compliance deadline · Filed 12/03/2026
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Board of Directors have determined that a majority of the thirteen current directors are independent.
Board governance: majority independence determination · Filed 12/03/2026
Nair, Patterson and Wargo are independent under the NASDAQ rules; however, due to their designation as nominees by, or relationship with, Liberty Broadband, a stockholder of the Company, they may not be considered independent under SEC rules for Audit Committee membership purposes.
Board governance: Liberty Broadband relationships and audit independence · Filed 12/03/2026
Miron and Newhouse are independent under the NASDAQ rules; however, due to their designation as nominees by, or relationship with, A/N, a stockholder of the Company, they may not be considered independent under SEC rules for Audit Committee membership purposes.
Board governance: A/N relationships and audit independence · Filed 12/03/2026
The Audit Committee meets regularly with members of management in executive session, as well as separately with each of the General Counsel, the Senior Vice President of Internal Audit Services and representatives of our independent registered public accounting firm.
Risk oversight: Audit Committee executive sessions · Filed 12/03/2026
In December 2025 – along with regular grants under the 2026 annual equity program that are described in the Compensation Actions in 2026 section below – the Committee also approved special one-time equity grants for the NEOs to be granted in 2026 contingent upon the close of the Cox Transactions.
Compensation discussion: closing-contingent special equity grants · Filed 12/03/2026
