Time Warner Cable’s longtime chief executive and chairman, Glenn Britt, will step down at the end of the year and be replaced by Robert Marcus, the company’s second in command.
The move was widely expected. Britt, 64, has been chief executive since 2001. Marcus, 48, will become chief executive and will join the company’s board of directors as chairman starting Jan. 1. He was promoted to chief operating officer and president in 2010. There are no immediate plans to replace him as president.
Britt said in an interview that he had known Marcus for two decades and identified him as a successor four or five years ago.
The executive shuffle comes as just as Time Warner Cable, the second largest US cable provider behind Comcast, with 12 million customers, has become an acquisition target for John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media.
Malone, whose media holding company has an investment in cable provider Charter Communications Inc, made an offer for the company, but it was rejected because it was not viewed as beneficial to Time Warner Cable shareholders, Reuters previously reported.
Marcus on Thursday declined to comment on Malone or consolidation.