Charter 1999 Annual Report Download - page 15

1999 SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORT 13
A REMARKABLE YEAR
In 1999, Charter moved to the top tier of the cable industry, as we positioned our Company for
leadership in the emerging world of broadband.
We completed the third-largest initial public offering (IPO) ever in the United States —
and the largest media IPO ever — with a $3.7 billion offering in November 1999. We also completed
the third-largest high-yield bond offering in history, raising $3 billion in March 1999. We recently
raised an additional $1.3 billion from the sale of high yield bonds. We announced 12 acquisitions,
totaling in excess of $14 billion, adding 3.8 million customers.
We have now completed all of the acquisitions that were announced last year. I believe we
exercised great discipline in the process, as evidenced by our average cost of $3,700 per acquired
customer. That compares very favorably to the industry average estimate of $3,900 per customer
that changed hands in 1999.
On a pro forma basis — as if all acquisitions had occurred on January 1, 1999 — revenues
for the year would have been $2.9 billion. Adjusted EBITDA — earnings before interest, income
taxes, depreciation and amortization — excluding certain corporate and noncash expenses,
would have been over $1.4 billion for 1999.
We have exceeded expectations for rolling out new digital programming services.
By year-end 1999, as a result of our marketing efforts, we served 155,400 digital video
customers, well above consensus analyst expectations. Digital video has been a big success
with additional average household revenue of approximately $20 per month from each of
those customers. In addition, we served 65,600 high-speed Internet customers, again well
above consensus analyst expectations.
OBJECTIVES FOR 2000 AND BEYOND
As we look ahead to this year and the next, we plan to increase shareholder value by accomplishing
these objectives:
• the rebuild of our cable systems on schedule and within budget;