Verizon to Buy Frontier for $9.6 Billion in Broadband Push (4)

Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to buy rival telecommunications operator Frontier Communications Parent Inc. for about $9.59 billion as the New York phone giant looks to expand its high-speed internet business.

Frontier’s investors will get $38.50 a share, a 37% premium to the $28.04 closing price on Tuesday, the day before news of a pending deal came out, Verizon said in a statement on Thursday. The transaction values the Dallas-based company at $20 billion including debt. Frontier shares had surged 38% on Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal first reported that the companies were in talks for a deal. They slid ...