On Tuesday, shares of Liberty Broadband spiked $17 (+28.39%) after the communications company that owns Alaska’s GCI made a counteroffer to Charter Communications’ merger proposal. The shares closed at $76.87 on Tuesday.
The counter offer would give Liberty Broadband investors .29 Charter shares for each share of Liberty they own.
Charter shares moved lower, losing 8.26 (-2.49%), and closing at $323.36.
Liberty currently owns a 26% stake in Charter, which is an internet, mobile phone, and cable provider headquartered in Connecticut.
GCI was Alaska’s first technology startup, beginning in 1979 out of an apartment in Anchorage by company founders Ron Duncan and Bob Walp, who started by rebranding phone cards and ultimately created create a long-distance phone service provider that gave Alaskans more affordable options to communicate across the country.
At that time GCI started, long-distance phone calls cost Alaskans $1 per minute. But after GCI pioneered DAMA satellite communication to deliver in-state long distance, and introduced competitive facilities-based local phone service, costs came down dramatically.
GCI now employs 2,000 Alaskans. It merged with Liberty Broadband in 2020.
