AT&T and Time Warner have reportedly held informal talks regarding a possible merger

Shawn Knight

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Senior-level executives at AT&T and Time Warner have reportedly met in recent weeks to discuss potential business strategies, one of which being a possible merger.

Sources familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg that the talks are still at an “informal” stage and have thus far focused on building a relationship between the companies. Neither side has yet hired a financial advisor, a typical move when companies are considering conducting a significant business transaction like a merger or buyout.

One of the sources said Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes would be willing to sell if a fair offer is put on the table. In 2014, he turned down an offer of $85 per share from 21st Century Fox which would have valued Time Warner north of $75 million.

Time Warner stock has been trading just south of $80 during the last few days, shooting up to $83 on news of the discussions. AT&T shares dipped roughly two percent near the end of closing on Thursday.

Sources earlier this month told Bloomberg that AT&T is interested in acquiring businesses that will expand its reach into media and entertainment. Having scooped up DirecTV last year for $48.5 billion and having spent around $18 billion in last year’s airwaves auction left the company with just $7.2 billion in cash, far short of what it would need to land a cash-only deal for Time Warner.

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OH H*LL NO!
You know, I remember when the broke up "ma bell" back in the 80's. It's taken over 30 years, for them to
almost put it all back together again!
 
The amazing part of the Bell Telephone break up was that Bell agreed not to attempt to put it all back together again. If you look closely, the have, for the most part remained true to that promise .... but only in long line telephone service. That legal decision did not affect their wireless, cable TV, or entertainment businesses, so the real question now is how long will it be before they are again accused to trying to build another monopoly that will need to be broken up. They certainly are not there yet, but judging from their past performance they are well on the way to getting exactly just that.
 
After buying DirectTV, I'm not sure how this would ever be approved ---- you can't just go buy all of the competitors.

This is Time Warner the media company, not Time Warner the cable company. I could see Verizon dumping yahoo and then go after Viacom
 
Uh...Time Warner was bought up by Charter...so um...how can ATT by them???
They merged and kept the Time Warner name or maybe AT&T is looking to buy a part of the merged company and the Time Warner name.

No. Time Warner Cable(that we know of) will be Charter. Time Warner(media) will be apart of At&t, like NBC Universal is part of Comcast. I expect Verizon to buy CBS corp or Viacom. Google, Apple, and Microsoft needs to step up their game or these guys will give them a big F-U on broadcast fees. If this gets the green light, Disney will have to buy Netflix.
 
Uh...Time Warner was bought up by Charter...so um...how can ATT by them???
They merged and kept the Time Warner name or maybe AT&T is looking to buy a part of the merged company and the Time Warner name.

No. Time Warner Cable(that we know of) will be Charter. Time Warner(media) will be apart of At&t, like NBC Universal is part of Comcast. I expect Verizon to buy CBS corp or Viacom. Google, Apple, and Microsoft needs to step up their game or these guys will give them a big F-U on broadcast fees. If this gets the green light, Disney will have to buy Netflix.
Viacom own a ton of companies, no one will be buying them out. You can scratch that off.
 
No. Time Warner Cable(that we know of) will be Charter. Time Warner(media) will be apart of At&t, like NBC Universal is part of Comcast. I expect Verizon to buy CBS corp or Viacom. Google, Apple, and Microsoft needs to step up their game or these guys will give them a big F-U on broadcast fees. If this gets the green light, Disney will have to buy Netflix.

Oh, OK. That is the problem in this country...so many corporations buying each other up, or splitting here and there...how the hell does one keep track of all this???
 
No. Time Warner Cable(that we know of) will be Charter. Time Warner(media) will be apart of At&t, like NBC Universal is part of Comcast. I expect Verizon to buy CBS corp or Viacom. Google, Apple, and Microsoft needs to step up their game or these guys will give them a big F-U on broadcast fees. If this gets the green light, Disney will have to buy Netflix.
That is just confusing.
 
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