AT&T Reaches Deal to Buy Time Warner for More Than $80 Billion

[brooklynite]

Source: The Wall Street Journal

AT&T Inc. has reached an agreement to buy Time Warner Inc. for between $105 and $110 a share, with a deal likely to be announced as soon as Saturday evening, according to people familiar with the plans.

The boards of the two companies are meeting on Saturday to approve the transaction, the people said. The deal is half cash and half stock, according to one of the people.

The acquisition is valued at more than $80 billion and pushes the carrier deeper into the traditional entertainment business at a time of stalled wireless growth. For Time Warner, the deal represents a victory for Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes, 64, who took some heat from investors for rebuffing a takeover bid two years ago from 21st Century Fox at $85 a share. (21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal-owner News Corp share common ownership.)

The pairing brings together AT&’s millions of wireless and pay-television subscribers with Time Warner’s deep media lineup including networks such as CNN, TNT, the prized HBO channel and Warner Bros. film and TV studio.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-reaches-deal-to-buy-time-warner-for-more-than-80-billion-1477157084

[pangaia]

1. Oh, shit....

I can't afford to watch the MLB playoffs as it is.

[Dustlawyer]

2. The FCC will rubber stamp a deal in an industry already comprised of a few Oligarch's.

They all need to be busted up before there is just one company with a monopoly in everything!

[bucolic_frolic]

3. I will not use a product by any of those companies

No cable, barely cell phone, and hi-speed internet

Wish I could go free wifi

[Panich52]

4. In 70s Ma Bell declared monopoly & broken up. Now it's

become the Blob, swallowing all the info sources it can...

Really pains me to agree w/ Donny on anything, but the media is becoming more rigged every year.

[DK504]

5. When was this worked out?

When were monopolies allowed to engulf the world, again?? The DOJ could stop this in one second, if they do not it shows they don't give a crap about Americans and what we are going through. We haven't had a pay raise in 30 years and have lost all manufacturing in the US.

I do put this on Reagan shoulders. However with NAFTA, Clinton's approval of this BS treaty has done more damage than even GW Bush has done. I know I'm going to get flamed over that one, but watching what has happened since the late 70's this rapid wrecking of all production here.

To know that 3 corporations will own our asses in the next few years, I have to ask who the hell will really be running the country? The DC whores or We The People.

[Retired George]

6. MEDIAC is Watching You!

Well, soon, anyway.

[BlueEye]

7. Well, at least this is AT&T the content distributor and Time Warner the content generator.

Time Warner Cable already split off from Time Warner Inc. and merged with Charter to form Charter Spectrum. What this does for AT&T is that it allows them to control the price they pay for the content (CNN, HBO, etc.) that they then distribute to consumers. In theory, it will improve their profit margins, but I don't see a big pass through element for TV and internet consumers, especially with competition in that market remaining pretty fierce despite a number of combinations in the past year.

Contemporary applications of anti-trust laws seem to focus on preventing the possible negative consumer effects of horizontal integrations. This is a vertical integration, which seems to be less of a concern to the DOJ and other regulators. Ironically, it was largely vertically integrated conglomerates that spurred the Sherman Antitrust Act. It doesn't seem to be a concern today, for some reason.

[turbinetree]

8. I feel like the collective state is being created right before our eyes

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collective

[Rex]

9. I'm old enough to remember when they were a monopoly.

AT&TW?

[XemaSab]

10. Don't worry, Hillary's going to block this!