The U.S. Department of Justice has OK’d the $5.7 billion acquisition of TW Telecom by Broomfield-based the companies announced Monday.
The tie up of Colorado-based Internet network operators now must be approved by shareholders.
in a cash and stock deal. The two companies employ more than 13,000 people, about 4,000 of whom are in Colorado.
Level 3 operates globally while TW Telecom serves customers in North America.
At the time of the announcement, analysts said that because their networks are largely complementary, the purchase would TW Telecom would help Level 3 compete with larger rivals, some of whom are gaining scale amid the recent wave of cable and telecom consolidation.
Employees in metro Denver are expected to bear the brunt of job cuts as a result when the companies shed duplicate operations.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz
