MediaFile

Paul Allen’s Charter Communications has officially filed for bankruptcy, citing $24.2 billion in debt and $13.1 billion in assets.

The move has been expected for months. Still, it makes you wonder: Is this a good or bad thing for the company? For the industry?

That depends on who you are. As far as the company is concerned, the action gets its a $3 billion injection from investors.

It will reorganize so that it can better deal with its debt, although it may have to sell off certain assets before it emerges from bankruptcy.

That hefty debt makes it an unlikely takeover target, experts say, but that doesn’t mean that Time Warner Cable or Comcast or some other rival might not consider taking a closer look at Charter now that it has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Paul Allen, the billionaire who made his money as co-founder of Microsoft, might no longer be the largest individual owner of cable company Charter Communications after it emerges from bankruptcy by April 1.

According to a story broken by Reuters on Thursday private equity firm Apollo Group is planning to take economic ownership of Charter. Allen will retain a 35 percent voting control as had previously been announced. 

Under Allen’s watch as chairman, Charter spent billions of dollars acquiring smaller cable systems across the United States, running up a pile of crippling debt in the process. That debt load led to the company announcing last month that it has agreed a pre-packaged bankruptcy deal with senior creditors which will be filed any day now.