Time Warner Cable CEO Sells Company a Month Into Term: ‘This Transaction Seems Very Natural to Me’

With 44 days on the job, Rob Marcus presides over sale to Comcast

February 13, 2014 @ 6:33 AM

Rob Marcus isn’t getting to spend much time as the boss of Time Warner Cable. His first major action, barely a month into his term, is presiding over the company’s sale to Comcast.

At least Marcus’ 44 days at the helm have been exciting: the Comcast sale comes after he fended off a takeover effort by Charter Communications.

Also read: Comcast Confirms $45.2B Time Warner Cable Purchase

“It’s never easy to make the decision to cede control of the company,” Marcus said in a conference call with investors Thursday, after the $45.2 billion sale to Comcast was announced. “However, in this case, it just makes too much sense. … This transaction seems very natural to me.”

The new company will be led by Comcast Cable President and CEO Neil Smit. Marcus will remain the CEO and chairman of Time Warner Cable as the company carries out its 2014 plans, a company spokesman told TheWrap.

Also read: Time Warner Cable, This Is Why People Get Mad at You (Opinion)

It’s unclear whether Marcus will still have to carry out a plan to turn around Time Warner Cable’s customer service. The company shed 306,000 residential video customers during the third quarter of 2013, when it feuded with CBS and blacked it out in several markets for a month.

Marcus pledged after the losses “to fundamentally change the customer experience,” through the company’s new “Max Markets” initiative.

Also read: Who Won CBS’s Fight With Time Warner Cable? DirecTV

Marcus was named chairman and CEO in July, and assumed the role at the start of 2014. He replaced Glenn Britt, who stepped down after 12 years and announced in October that he was battling cancer.

Marcus served as president and chief operating officer of TWC beginning in December 2010, and was chief financial officer from 2008 through mid-2011.

Marcus’ most notable accomplishments included orchestrating the cable company’s spinoff from Time Warner Inc. in 2009, its move to a publicly traded company in 2007, and several key acquisitions and mergers.

The CEO knew when he took the job that the company might not remain under his control for long: Charter began considering a takeover even before he was named to the CEO job in July.

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