Broadwing Corporation

Broadwing Corporation, LLC is a data, voice, and media solutions company based in Austin, Texas.

Enabled by its 20,000-mile All-Optical-Network and 20 nation-wide HDTV transmitting and delivering centers, Broadwing Communications provides communications solutions and services to more than 130,000 enterprises and eight of the Fortune 100 enterprises. One of their current premier products is Voice over IP.

Broadwing Corporation was incorporated in 1997 and was founded by David R. Huber, who also founded Ciena Corporation and Corvis, which acquired Broadwing from Cincinnati Bell, an ILEC, and Focal, a CLEC, in 2003 and 2004 respectively, with annual revenue approaching $900 million by the second half of 2005.

Broadwing's competitor Level 3 Communications announced on October 17, 2006, that it was intending to buy Broadwing for $1.4 Billion. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101700495.html] On January 3, 2007 it announced that it had completed this acquisition. Pursuant to the merger agreement dated October 16, 2006, Level 3 will pay consideration to Broadwing shareholders of $8.18 of cash plus 1.3411 shares of Level 3 common stock for each share of Broadwing common stock outstanding at closing. In total, Level 3 will pay approximately $744 million of cash and issue approximately 122 million shares of common stock. “The acquisition of Broadwing benefits Level 3 in two distinct areas,” said Kevin O’Hara, president and chief operating officer of Level 3. “The integration of the Broadwing backbone presents significant synergy opportunities, and the expansion of the customer base provides strategic growth opportunities for us moving forward.”

External links

* [http://www.broadwing.com Corporate website]