Crown Castle Stock Jumps as Firm Sells Fiber Optics Unit for $8.5B

Crown Castle (CCI) shares surged almost 10% Friday, a day after the provider of towers and other communication infrastructure sold its fiber optics unit to the EQT Active Core Infrastructure fund and privately held Zayo Group Holdings for a combined $8.5 billion.

The deal has EQT acquiring Crown Castle’s small cells operations, while Zayo picks up the fiber solutions business. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Crown Castle explained that it will use the money to “repay existing indebtedness and fund anticipated share repurchases, positioning the company to maintain an investment grade credit rating.” It said the new stock buyback program would be worth approximately $3.0 billion.

The move came after the company announced a strategic and operating review of the unit in December 2023, “with the goal of enhancing shareholder value.”

Along with the sale announcement, Crown Castle reported a fourth-quarter loss of $10.97 per share, while analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for a gain. Revenue of $1.65 billion was in line with forecasts. In addition, it will be slashing its annual dividend to $4.25 per share in the second quarter from $6.26 per share, and will reset it following the close of the fiber sale.

Even with today’s gains, shares of Crown Castle remain down nearly 4% over the past year.

CORRECTION—This article has been updated to reflect that EQT Active Core Infrastructure fund is unaffiliated with EQT Corp.