Five Things You Need to Know About Altice

While most people may have a hard time naming three things from Luxembourg, cable operators would be smart to bone up on their knowledge of the tiny country wedged between Belgium, France and Germany, and especially its telecommunications company, Altice. Altice burst on the cable consolidation scene as the surprise acquirer of Suddenlink Communications and made no bones about its intentions -- it wants to be a big part of the consolidation trend in the US cable business. But aside from an unusual name and an obvious appetite for acquisitions, not many people in the US know much about the Luxembourg telecommunications company, its executives or its track record. Here are a few things you should know about what could be the next big cable buyer:

1. Its founder Patrick Drahi, a French Moroccan billionaire got his start selling cable subscriptions door to door.
2. Altice has been on an acquisitions binge in the past two years, spending $30B in 2014 alone ($23 billion of that in the purchase of French wireless provider SFR). It has about 3.1 million cable customers (1.6 million in France and 1.1 million in Israel), but more than 20 million wireless subscribers.
3. Drahi, a citizen of France but a resident of Switzerland is ranked 57th among the world’s billionaires, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $16 billion.
4. Altice has a simple strategy for its acquisitions -- extract greater value by cutting costs significantly and increasing profits.
5. While Altice has grabbed a lot of headlines because of its aggressive deal making, there are some who believe the company may have already bitten off more than it can chew.