今早，康卡斯特正式放弃了与时代华纳有线电视公司长达一年的合并计划。事实证明，美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）和美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）曾表达过一些担忧，担心一个庞然大物的诞生会让本来就乏力的宽带竞争相形见绌，并与NBC环球公司（NBC Universal）共同拥有一个主要的媒体强国。康卡斯特首席执行官布莱恩•罗伯茨（Brian Roberts）在一份公开声明中对这一失望不屑一顾，称自己“对下一步的发展感到非常兴奋”。Verge获得的一封发给时代华纳有线电视公司员工的电子邮件显示，TWC首席执行官罗伯•马库斯（Rob Marcus）也在做同样的事情，其形式几乎是一场极其激烈的企业激励谈话。

马库斯在合并宣布前六周出任首席执行官，他比罗伯茨乐观得多。这可能与如果TWC加入康卡斯特，他被提供的8000万美元遣散费的损失有关——事实上，他“对我们未能完成交易感到失望。”此外，他还向时代华纳有线电视公司的员工表示了一个略带辛酸的道歉，他们在过去一年中一直处于现在不可能发生的重组阴影之下。但他仍然“对我们的未来无比兴奋”，这将包括为各种实体创造大量“价值”。毕竟，归根结底，一点友善的股东价值创造难道不是我们所有人真正需要的吗？

I wanted to tell you personally that, moments ago, we formally and mutually agreed with Comcast to terminate our planned merger. I'm disappointed we were unable to c***ummate the deal, which we believed would have created great value for customers, colleagues and shareholders alike.

But I'm also incredibly excited about our future.

When I began my tenure as CEO in January 2014, I committed to three things: making TWC a truly great company, delivering outstanding customer experiences, and maximizing shareholder value. I remain equally committed to those same three goals today. I am proud to say that during the past 16 months, we have greatly improved our Company's operating results and the quality of our customers' experiences. Those, in turn, are the essential underpinnings of long-term shareholder value. Today we are well positioned, thanks in part to the substantial investments we have made in our network and customer service, but most of all due to your hard work.

So now what happens? We continue to do what we do best: working together to serve every one of our 15 million customers better every day. We continue to invest to make our network and our products even more competitive. And we continue our commitment to making Time Warner Cable a great place to work for our 55,000 employees.

I am truly sorry for how the uncertainty of the past 14 months has affected each of you - I know it's been difficult to make decisi*** about your careers and your lives. There will likely be some continued distracti*** in the coming weeks as we adjust to our new normal. However, you've already dem***trated a remarkable ability to serve our customers well and deliver results through it all.

Now is our time. Together, we will continue to prove that Time Warner Cable can and will create value for our customers, shareholders, each other, and the communities we serve. I'm proud to stand alongside you and lead the way forward.