Comcast Merger Threatened by Weak Stock Price

Time Warner stockholders might not like the all-stock purchase, after all.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Comcast stock has dropped nearly 10 percent in the weeks since the company announced its merger with Time Warner Cable — and could undermine the proposed merger.

A continued decline in Comcast’s stock could pose problems for the company when TWC shareholders come to vote on the deal, which is expected in the summer, investors and analysts say.

Investors and analysts say the drop may have created an opening for TWC’s erstwhile suitor, Charter Communications Inc., to come back with a new offer.

Charter, which is backed by John Malone‘s Liberty Media Corp, put TWC into play last spring, making three separate offers over a period of nine months, each rejected as too low by TWC. Its most recent offer was $132.50 in cash and stock.

Some Time Warner Cable investors said this week that if Charter were to come back with a bid worth more than the current value of Comcast’s offer — and include $100 a share in cash or more — it might have a shot.

Of course, Comcast on Monday announced a stock buyback program — a move to improve its stock price.