“We expect to gradually increase our leverage to the middle of our four to four and a half times range pro forma for the Liberty transaction over the next several quarters.”

In context

“rage cost of debt remains at an attractive 5.2%. Our current run rate annualized cash interest is $4.9 billion. We began repurchasing stock in late February, following shareholder approval of the Liberty Broadband transaction. During the quarter, we we repurchased 2.1 million Charter Communications, Inc. shares in Charter Holdings common units totaling $750 million at an average price per share of $365 As of the end of the first quarter, our ratio of net debt to last twelve month adjusted EBITDA moved down to 4.06 times. And stood at 4.16 times pro forma for the pending Liberty Broadband transaction. Decline in leverage in the quarter was driven by our inability to repurchase shares in the open market until we had shareholder approval of the Liberty Broadband transaction in late February. We expect to gradually increase our leverage to the middle of our four to four and a half times range pro forma for the Liberty transaction over the next several quarters. As we laid out last quarter, our plan is to grow EBITDA in 2025. And with strong contributions from the mobile business as well as continuing efficiency improvements driven by our investments, we made good progress against that plan in the first quarter. As we continue to grow the business financially, we will also see outsized improvements to free cash flow, driven by the end of our major one-time investment in our network evolution and subsidized rural initiative. That reduction in capital spending from approximately $12 billion in 2025 to less than $8 billion in 2028 is equivalent to over $25 of annual free cash flow per share. Based on today's share count. Ultimately, the strength of our P and L and decline in capital intensity over the next several years. Combined with our appropriat”