Altice buys Cablevision in big sale

Altice, the Netherlands based European cable and Telecommunications Company is buying New York cable operator Cablevision for $17.7 billion, pending regulatory approval. The move continues Altice SA founder and CEO Patrick Drahi’s aggressive drive to have half its worldwide portfolio in the U.S. This latest acquisition makes Altice the fourth biggest cable operator in the U.S. Earlier this year Altice acquired Suddenlink, a small cable company based in Saint Louis for $9.1 billion. Over the past 18 months Drahi has put together over $40 billion in deals worldwide.

Drahi expanded from a small Internet and cable company after he purchased France’s number two telephone operator SFR for $18.5 billion last year. Before that he bought Portugal telecom for $8.4 billion. Altice also has operations in Israel, Switzerland, Belgium and other countries.

In a statement the CEO of Altice, Dexter Goei said “This acquisition, our second in the cable sector in the US, is the next step in Altice’s long-term oriented strategy in the U.S., one of the largest and fastest growing communications markets in the world.” Goei and several other Altice employees, Emmanuel Gueroult, Burkhard Koep and Bernard Mourad are former Morgan Stanley bankers.

Cable companies have been scrambling to merge or drop television, because viewers are turning to services like Netflix for video. In addition cable companies are paying more for sports and other programming.

A 52 year old entrepreneur, Drahi is planning on importing a European business model which would combine cable companies and mobile operation, giving the consumer cable TV, high speed internet, fixed and mobile phone services, in essence a quadruple play model, at lower cost than American companies that only offer one or two of those services.

Drahi grew up in Morocco, of Jewish parents who were both math teachers. When he was 15 they moved to France, where he eventually attended École Polytechnique, one of the top engineering schools.

He met his future wife, Lina at a college party, and proposed to her the same night; she accepted. Shortly after their honeymoon he quit his job, rented a car and drove across the U.S., meeting cable TV owners, and regional bankers. He founded the international news channel i24news in 2013. Today he is the 60th richest person in the world and the third richest in France according to Forbes, which estimates his net worth at $15 billion. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland and has four children.

The Dolan family, holders of 72.3 percent of Cablevision Systems Corporation. owns AMC Network, Inc., Madison Square Garden in New York City, Newsday Media Group owner of Newsday and News 12 Networks, as well as the “Optimum” brands.

Cablevision Chief Executive Officer James Dolan issued this statement, “Since Charles Dolan founded Cablevision in 1973, the Dolan family has been honored to help shepherd our customers and employees through the most extraordinary communications revolution in modern history.”