Gain on Sale of Consumer CLEC Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Gain on Sale of Consumer CLEC Business

Gain on Sale of Consumer CLEC Business:

On December 31, 2018, Windstream Services completed the sale of substantially all of its consumer competitive local exchange carrier (“CLEC”) business to an affiliate of Trive Capital Fund III LLP and nQue Technologies for $320.9 million in cash, net of a working capital adjustment, and recorded a pre-tax gain of $145.4 million. The Consumer CLEC operations sold consisted solely of the former EarthLink Holdings Corp (“EarthLink”) consumer business that we acquired in February 2017 (see Note 4). The sold operations comprised approximately 3.0 percent of our total consolidated revenues and sales for 2018 and less than 2.0 percent of our total consolidated assets at the date of disposition. The sale of the consumer CLEC business did not represent a strategic shift in our operations nor have a major effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position or cash flows, and accordingly, did not qualify for reporting as a discontinued operation. Excluding the effects of the gain, the consumer CLEC business generated pre-tax income of $92.5 million and $87.3 million in 2018 and 2017, respectively.