Charter's Q3 2025 10-Q: Mobile Surges as Company Bets Big on Cox Acquisition

Charter Communications, the company behind the Spectrum brand of cable and internet services, recently filed its third-quarter 2025 financial report. This document gives us a detailed look into the health of one of America's largest connectivity providers. Let's break down the numbers from their latest 10-Q filing to understand the key trends shaping their business.

For the third quarter ending September 30, 2025, Charter's total revenue was $13.7 billion, a slight dip of 0.9% compared to the same period last year. While the top-line number appears stable, a look underneath reveals a company in the midst of a significant transformation.

The following flow diagram visualizes Charter's revenue sources and costs for the quarter, illustrating how revenue is converted into profit.

The Tale of Two Businesses

Charter's financial story is increasingly one of two diverging paths. On one side, the traditional video (cable TV) business continues to shrink. Video revenue plummeted by 9.3% year-over-year to $3.4 billion. This decline is driven by the relentless trend of "cord-cutting," as the company lost over 400,000 residential video customers in the past year.

On the other side, Charter's connectivity services are picking up the slack.

• Mobile is the Star: The standout performer is the mobile division, which saw revenues surge by an impressive 19.2% to $954 million for the quarter. Charter added nearly 2 million new residential mobile lines over the past year, bringing its total to over 11 million. This rapid growth shows their strategy of bundling mobile with home internet is paying off.
• Internet Holds Steady: Internet services, the company's largest revenue source, grew a modest 1.7% to nearly $6.0 billion. This growth came from price and product mix changes, as the company saw a slight decrease in total internet customers.

Combined, these growing "Connectivity" services now represent over half of the company's quarterly revenue, successfully offsetting the decline in legacy video and voice services.

Profitability and Big Bets

While revenues held relatively steady, income from operations fell 6.1% to $3.1 billion for the quarter. Net income attributable to shareholders also declined to $1.1 billion from $1.3 billion a year ago. A bright spot in their cost structure was a $152 million decrease in programming expenses, a direct benefit of shedding less profitable video subscribers.

Even as it navigates this internal business shift, Charter is making a massive external bet on future growth. The company is in the process of acquiring Cox Communications. According to the filing, Charter will pay $3.5 billion in cash and assume approximately $12.4 billion of Cox's net debt. This is a transformative deal that will significantly expand Charter's footprint. However, the filing's "Risk Factors" section appropriately highlights the challenges ahead, including the complex task of integrating two massive operations and managing a substantially larger debt load.

Despite this pending mega-deal, Charter has been aggressively buying back its own stock. In the third quarter alone, the company spent $2.1 billion on share repurchases, a dramatic increase from just $218 million in the same quarter of 2024.

Looking Ahead

Charter Communications is at a pivotal moment. It is successfully managing a strategic pivot from a traditional cable company to a connectivity-first provider, with mobile growth leading the charge. However, the flat top-line revenue indicates that this growth is, for now, primarily serving to backfill the losses from the declining video business.

The upcoming acquisition of Cox Communications adds another layer of complexity and opportunity. Investors will be watching closely to see if Charter can smoothly integrate this massive new piece, manage its significant debt, and continue to grow its connectivity services in an increasingly competitive market.