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September 5, 2024

Verizon to acquire Frontier Communications for $20B

HBJ FILE PHOTO Frontier Communications offices.
By Andrew Larson

Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications will acquire Frontier Communications, which was headquartered in Norwalk until recently, in an all-cash-deal valued at $20 billion, Verizon announced Thursday morning.

The acquisition will “significantly expand Verizon's fiber footprint across the nation, accelerating the company’s delivery of premium mobility and broadband services,” Verizon said in the announcement.

Frontier, the largest pure-play fiber internet provider in the U.S., maintains an office presence in Norwalk after relocating its headquarters to Dallas in 2023. 

The transaction is expected to close in about 18 months.

Under the agreement, Verizon will acquire Frontier for $38.50 per share, Verizon said in the announcement. Frontier’s stock was trading at $35.19 per share Thursday morning.

At $38.50 per share, investors would receive a 43.7% premium to its 90-day volume-weighted average share price on Sept. 3, according to Verizon.

The acquisition will expand Verizon’s footprint, which currently includes 7.4 million fiber connections in nine states and Washington, D.C., the announcement says.

Frontier will add 2.2 million fiber subscribers in 25 states once the transaction is completed.

Frontier says it remains committed to Connecticut and recently expanded its fiber network to 1 million locations in the state.

Also, Frontier recently partnered with an arts nonprofit to create a series of animated images, called “Magic Murals,” which will be projected in November onto a windowless exterior wall of Frontier’s high-rise building at 111 Trumbull St. in downtown Hartford. The large concrete building houses key network functions and infrastructure that provide fiber internet to the region.

Frontier has more than 14,000 employees across the United States, including 220 in Norwalk, and more than 600 in its Dallas office, according to Bloomberg.

Verizon, headquartered in New York City, had about 105,400 employees as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to the company’s 2023 annual report.

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