Financial thoughts

Private-equity firm Apollo Management is in talks to take a substantial ownership stake in Charter Communications Inc. as part of the cable company’s bankruptcy reorganization, according to people familiar with the talks.

Apollo controls a large chunk of Charter debt, which it will swap for equity as part of the company’s restructuring. Last month Charter said that it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by April 1 and reorganize.

Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft Corp. who has controlled Charter, will retain voting control of the company, according to securities filings. Apollo will have minority voting rights and a noncontrol position, according to people familiar with the talks.

Town and Country-based Charter, the nation’s fourth-largest cable-TV company, has said its planned Chapter 11 filing was intended to trim about $8 billion from its $21 billion in debt online cash advance. The company grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions, and then went public in 1999. The purchases saddled it with billions of dollars of debt.

Charter, which has 16,500 employees and reported $6.5 billion in revenue last year, doesn’t expect to cut jobs as part of its reorganization.

A spokesman for Apollo declined to comment. A Charter spokesperson didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
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