AT&T deal delay? News reports say agency wants TV properties sold
NEW YORK — AT&T says it’s uncertain when its $85 billion deal for Time Warner will close, making investors worry that regulators may try to block it or require significant changes.
Reports from The New York Times, CNN and other outlets, citing unidentified people, said the Justice Department wants to require the companies to sell Turner Broadcasting, which houses CNN, TBS and TNT; or to sell satellite TV provider DirecTV, which AT&T bought in 2015.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statement, “I have never offered to sell CNN and have no intention of doing so.” AT&T officials did not immediately respond to other questions, nor did Time Warner or the Justice Department.
AT&T had previously targeted the end of the year for closing the deal, and Wall Street analysts had widely expected the deal to go through. Obama-era regulators in 2011 approved a similar media merger, cable company Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal, after Comcast agreed to a slew of business requirements. At an investors conference Wednesday, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said he could not comment on discussions with Justice, which he described as ongoing.
“But with those discussions, I can now say that the timing of the closing of the deal is now uncertain,” he added.
If AT&T and Justice cannot agree to conditions, Justice can sue to block the deal.
Time Warner shares dropped 4.8 percent to $90.10 in afternoon trading Wednesday. AT&T stock rose less than 1 percent, to $33.29.
The Justice Department’s new antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, has said he prefers “structural” changes to a deal, like selling off assets, rather than having the government monitor a company’s promises to abide by certain conditions, as was done with Comcast. Requiring AT&T to sell either Turner or DirecTV would be in line with Delrahim’s thinking.