Cable One set to lay off 4% of its employees

Cable One told the Securities & Exchange Commission that it plans to lay off around 4% of its full- and part-time employees, an action that will result in the loss of around 120 jobs based on a published head count of just under 3,000 workers at the end of 2023.

“On June 13, 2024, Cable One announced to its employees that it is implementing certain organizational changes intended to enhance the company’s ability to grow, retain and serve customers and streamline its operations,” Cable one told the SEC.

“The organizational changes include (i) restructuring how the company’s systems are managed geographically to help facilitate operational focus on customer growth and experience, market expansion and service delivery, network reliability and performance, brand awareness and local presence in each of the company’s regions; and (ii) streamlining the company’s customer service organization to optimize functional management and better align with the company’s service delivery model,” the Phoenix-based cable operator announced.

Cable One expects to incur a one-time charge of $7 million, tied mainly to severance costs. The cable operator said the cuts would ultimately result in $14 million in annual run-rate savings.

The SEC filing was first reported on by Ted Hearn’s Policyband blog.

Cable One serves around 1.1 million residential and business customers across 24 states under the Sparklight brand, as well as other cable brands including Fidelity, ValuNet and Hargray.

Cable One added 7,200 high-speed internet users in the first quarter, ending the period of 1.06 million subscribers. But revenue slipped by 2.8% year over year to $404.3 million, and net income dropped by 17.6% to $47.3 million.

Notably, average revenue per customer (ARPU) slipped by 2.7% to $81.33, with Cable One dropping prices to offset competitive pressure from fiber overbuilders and fixed wireless access operators T-Mobile and Verizon.

“We see this as unusual for Cable One,” equity research company KeyBanc Capital Markets told investors last week following disclosure of the layoffs. “While the fundamentals clearly are not great given its strategic pivot, we take this more as a sign of a continuous improvement mindset as opposed to a situation where trends are getting worse.” Light Reading