WOW! Shareholders Greenlight 1.5 Billion Dollar Take-Private Acquisition
Deal hands WOW! to investment firms DigitalBridge and Crestview amid rising fiber competition.
Dec. 4, 2025 — WOW!, a midsize broadband and cable operator serving the Midwest and Southeast, said shareholders voted Wednesday to approve the company’s 1.5 billion dollar sale to DigitalBridge and Crestview Partners, advancing a go-private agreement first announced on Aug. 11.
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WideOpenWest said investors cast 63.7 million votes in favor, or 74 percent of shares outstanding - the total number of shares eligible to vote, according to the Form 8-K.
Under the August agreement, stockholders will receive 5.20 dollars per share in an all-cash transaction that includes the assumption of WOW!’s debt. Crestview already held roughly 37 percent, a notably large amount of voting shares before the decision.
The vote followed third-quarter financial results showing continued subscriber and revenue pressure. WOW! reported an 8.9 percent total revenue decline and a 35.7 million dollar net loss during the third quarter. The Colorado based ISP lost 4,900 broadband RGUs, the revenue-generating units representing active service lines, and ended the quarter with 457,100 broadband customers.
Adjusted EBITDA, a commonly used earnings proxy that removes interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, fell 11 percent to 68.8 million dollars. Operating expenses excluding depreciation dropped nearly 14 percent, driven by lower programming costs as video subscriptions continued to decline.
Capital expenditures rose to 52.5 million dollars as WOW! expanded its fiber network, a 12 percent increase from Sep. 30, 2024. The company said its markets in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina now pass 106,600 homes with a 16 percent penetration rate, the share of homes passed that become paying customers.
WOW! ended the quarter with 22.9 million dollars in cash and 1.07 billion dollars in long-term debt and lease obligations. Net leverage reached 3.7 times, a debt-to-earnings ratio lenders use to assess financial strain.
The take-private deal would shift WOW!’s fiber build-out into private ownership at a moment when midsize cable operators face rising competition from fiber-to-the-home and fixed wireless offerings.
CEO Teresa Elder said WOW!’s added 2,500 new fiber subscribers in Q3, and would “continue to drive our business forward” in 2025.
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