AT&T completes purchase of Time Warner
Move ushers in new era for Warner Bros, CNN and HBO as Time Warner Inc fades away
Time Warner Inc is no more. Late Thursday, AT&T Inc announced that it completed its $85 billion (Dh312 billion) acquisition of Time Warner Inc, just two days after a federal judge in Washington gave the deal the green light. AT&T wasted little time consolidating its hard-fought prize — a blockbuster purchase that instantly transforms the phone company into a major force in Hollywood.
Television networks HBO, TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies and the Warner Bros movie and television studio, based in Burbank, now have a new boss: John Stankey. The 55-year-old executive is a Los Angeles native and a 32-year veteran of AT&T and its predecessors.
Time Warner Chief Executive The EU yesterday cleared US cable giant Comcast’s bid for pan-European TV group Sky, paving the way for an epic multi-billion-dollar takeover tussle with Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.
Brussels said it had “no competition concerns” over Comcast’s £22-billion (Dh107-billion, $29.4-billion, €25.1-billion) bid for all of Sky, which is best known for its live coverage of English Premier League football.
“The European Commission has approved unconditionally under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Sky by Comcast, a US based global media, technology and entertainment company,” the EU’s executive arm said in a statement.
“The Commission concluded the transaction would raise no competition concerns in Europe.”
Comcast owns Hollywood film studio Universal Pictures and operates several TV channels including CNBC. Jeffrey Bewkes will serve as a senior adviser to Stankey and AT&T during the transition.
“All of Jeff Bewkes’ direct reports will now report to John Stankey,” AT&T said in its statement.
Battle
AT&T and Time Warner have spent the last six months battling the Justice Department to gain its approval for the deal. The Justice Department sued in November, alleging that AT&T would use Time Warner’s content to put its rivals at a disadvantage.
On Tuesday, US District Judge Richard Leon ruled against the government, saying it had failed to prove its case that the AT&T-Time Warner combination was anticompetitive.
AT&T will separate its business into four distinct units: communications, which encompasses mobile phone service, broadband internet and DirecTV; advertising and analytics; international operations; and now the Time Warner properties, which last year generated $31 billion in revenue.
High quality
“We offer customers a differentiated, high-quality, mobile-first entertainment experience,” Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive of AT&T, said in a statement. “We’re going to bring a fresh approach to how the media and entertainment industry works for consumers, content creators, distributors and advertisers.”
Time Warner was formed by the 1990 merger of Warner Communications and Time Inc, the magazine empire. In 1996, it bought Turner Broadcasting. At one point, the company was one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the world, churning out popular movies, 24-hour newscasts and such popular magazines as Time, People and Sports Illustrated.