Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge will step down on Dec. 1, the company announced.
After a decade at the helm of the cable operator Rutledge will move to executive chairman until his contract runs out in November 2023. Charter Chief Operating Officer Chris Winfrey will take over as CEO.
Rutledge has a 50-year career in the industry after beginning as a technician in 1972 while in college. He turned Charter from a regional cable company into the No. 2 provider in the U.S. after taking over Time Warner Cable in 2015 for nearly $79 billion.
At the time, Charter served about 6 million subscribers with a market capitalization of about $20 billion. In the years the company almost quadrupled its earnings and subscribers.
“During my 50 years in this industry, I have witnessed first-hand Charter’s ability to continually evolve and change the world, and our opportunity today is greater than ever with ubiquitous connectivity being central to everything we do,” Rutledge said in a statement.
The coming new chief officer Winfrey started at Charter in 2010 as its chief financial officer, moving to COO last year.
“Chris’ leadership and expertise in both operations and finance have been pivotal to Charter’s growth and success,” said Rutledge. “Having worked closely with Chris for more than 10 years, he is the right choice to be our next CEO.”
