It was reported earlier this week that AT&T was in advanced talks to buy media conglomerate Time Warner and now the company has officially announced its bid. AT&T has made a $85.4 billion acquisition bid for Time Warner and unless there’s a competing bid and barring any regulatory hurdles, there’s a good chance that this deal will go through.
Telecommunications behemoth AT&T agreed on Saturday to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion. If you’ve not heard of Time Warner before, it’s the owner of some other properties you must have heard of, properties like CNN and HBO. AT&T and Time Warner sent out statements to the media confirming that both of their boards have unanimously approved this deal.
AT&T has offered $107.50 per share in cash and stock as consideration for this deal, the offer represents a 35 percent premium when compared to the price Time Warner’s stock was trading at before reports of an impending merger came out.
Even though both companies are on the same page, it’s likely that federal regulators are going to take a hard look at this deal to maintain oversight as power further consolidates in the media landscape. Republican nominee for president Donald Trump has already said that he’s going to block this deal if he’s elected because “it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.”
AT&T also recently acquired DirecTV for $48.5 billion and the latest deal goes to show that it won’t stop at anything to become one of the most powerful players in the media industry.
Filed in . Read more about AT&T and Time Warner. Source: nytimes