Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR), the country’s fourth-largest cable operator, said Monday its quarterly losses climbed to $1.5 billion and that a subsidiary won’t make a debt interest payment due to bankruptcy.
Despite some promising signs of growth, Charter’s fourth-quarter 2008 losses skyrocketed on tight credit and an impairment charge. Losses soared past the $1 billion mark, up from negative $468 million a year earlier, even though Charter added thousands of digital phone and high-speed Internet subscribers.
Higher sales haven’t been enough to save Charter from serious financial trouble, though. The company, controlled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, said last month it will file for bankruptcy by April 1 because of its eye-popping $21.7 billion debt load. In that vein, Charter said Monday one of its subsidiaries, CCH II LLC, won’t be making a scheduled payment on debt interest because of the pending reorganization.
Charter’s stock price closed at .024 cents on Monday, up 11.9 percent.
