Charter shares jump after reports of Verizon acquisition

Shares in US communications firm Charter Communications spiked on Thursday after reports that it was subject to a takeover bid from Verizon.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon is considering the deal, which would create a telecoms giant overtaking Comcast as the country's biggest internet provider.

Verizon's CEO has made a preliminary approach to Charter about the possibility of a merger, the report said.

Charter's stock jumped 9% to a record high of $338, before levelling off at 6.4% higher ($330) after the news was released on Thursday.

Verizon is already in the process of negotiating a major, if complex, merger with another major US firm. A price of $4.8bn was agreed for its takeover of Yahoo's core internet business, but the deal's closure has been pushed back on reports of a renegotiation following two massive data breaches of Yahoo accounts.

It was disclosed in September that over 500m users' details were hacked, followed by a further disclosure from Yahoo of over one billion accounts in December.

Charter and Verizon already have ties, after the former agreed plans to resell Verizon's mobile service later in 2017.

Verizon has been struggling to retain customers as it faces competition from the likes of T-Mobile and Sprint, and is believed to be considering a wide range of options to diversify its operations.