Level 3 acquires TW Telecom

In a move finalized this Halloween, October 31, 2014, Level 3 finalized their acquisition of TW Telecom in a deal valued at $5.3 billion. The deal was first announced in June of this year and the companies have spent the last four months working on making the acquisition as seamless as possible. In an email sent to Level 3 customers today, the Regional President of North America and APAC, John Blount, wrote:

Current Level 3 customers will benefit from thousands of new connected buildings, which will enable a higher quality, more reliable on-net experience. And tw telecom customers will benefit from Level 3’s extensive local-to-global footprint in more than 60 countries, substantial undersea networks and access to our data centers around the world.

Based in Broomfield, Colorado, Level3 now has about 4,000 Colorado-based employees and about 13,000 more worldwide. Level 3's valuation post-acquisition was approximately $27 billion and it turns over an annual revenue of $8 billion. Level 3 says that it plans to be able to cut about $200MM in operations costs, while cutting as few jobs as possible. It says the integration will occur over the next year and a half, but will be made significantly easier since both companies were based out of the same metropolitan area in Colorado.