AT&T Agrees to Buy Time Warner for $85.4 Billion

AT&T has bought one of the remaining crown jewels of the entertainment industry, agreeing to buy Time Warner, the home of HBO and CNN, for about $85.4 billion. The deal will create a new colossus capable of both producing content and distributing it to millions with wireless phones, broadband subscriptions and satellite TV connections. The proposed deal is likely to spur yet more consolidation among media companies, which have already looked to partners to get bigger. Time Warner’s deal with AT&T is likely to face tough scrutiny from government regulators increasingly skeptical of power being consolidated among a few titans. Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, indicated that he would seek to block the merger if elected “because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.”
AT&T-Time Warner deal could spur more mergers, scrutiny