DISCK - AT&T's Megaspinoff of WarnerMedia Nears the Finish Line
Telecom giant AT&T (NYSE: T) spent years, and tens of billions of dollars, attempting to turn itself into a media conglomerate. It acquired DirecTV to bolster its video business, and after nearly two years of legal wrangling, it successfully acquired Time Warner in an $85 billion deal that closed in June 2018.
Time Warner, now known as WarnerMedia, brought with it valuable properties including Warner Bros, HBO, and Turner. But it never quite worked as part of AT&T, and the boatload of debt generated by AT&T's dealmaking made the company far more fragile.
Less than four years after the Time Warner acquisition, AT&T is on the cusp of completing the unwind of its ill-fated and expensive media strategy. DirecTV was spun off as its own company last year, with AT&T maintaining a majority stake. And in the coming days, WarnerMedia will be merged with Discovery (NASDAQ: DISCA) (NASDAQ: DISCK) to create a media and streaming powerhouse .
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AT&T's Megaspinoff of WarnerMedia Nears the Finish Line