Will Trump follow through on his promise to block AT&T's planned acquisition of Time Warner?

Forum 7 years ago

Will Trump follow through on his promise to block AT&T's planned acquisition of Time Warner?

When AT&T announced that it was purchasing Time Warner for $85.4 billion last month, Donald Trump promised to block the deal if he was elected president, saying that "It's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few." At the time, it seemed like a threat that AT&T wouldn't have to deal with. But following the shocking election results on Tuesday night, the carrier's plans now seem up in the air.

One of the properties involved in the purchase, 24-hour cable news service CNN was decidedly pro-Clinton throughout the campaign. Trump could decide to block the deal just for revenge. In his original statement, he said that the AT&T bid for Time Warner was an example of how the "power structure" was rigged against him.

Besides CNN, some of the other properties that AT&T is looking to pick up in the deal include the Warner Brothers Studio, HBO, TNT, TBS and 10% of streaming video company Hulu. Content is important in mobile, and the nation's second largest carrier would be picking up a treasure trove of content if the deal goes through.

About 30 months ago, AT&T acquired DirecTV for $48.5 billion, picking up 142 million wireless subscribers and 38 million pay TV subscribers. In July, Verizon purchased Yahoo for $4.83 billion.

"From a company perspective, we really look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his transition team. Policies and discussions about infrastructure investment, economic development and American innovation all fit right in with AT&T’s goals…. We’ve been the leading investor in this country for more than five years running. We look forward with optimism to working with the leadership and providing benefits to our customers and shareholders."-John Stephens, CFO, AT&T

Historically, Republican administrations have been pro-business and pro-merger. But Trump won the presidency as a political outsider, which means that past rules do not apply.