Donald Trump might try to stop the AT&T merger with Time Warner


President-elect Donald Trump is to meet with AT&T executives Thursday at Trump Tower in order to discuss the company's multi-billion dollar deal to buy Time Warner, Bloomberg Politics reports. Trump reportedly opposes the deal.
Trump does not have much wiggle room to block the merger, though. "The Justice Department could sue to stop the transaction, but it would have to convince the courts that the deal would threaten competition," Bloomberg writes. "That could be tough because AT&T isn't buying a direct competitor." Typically, antitrust matters are handled by the Justice Department, not the president, but people close to Trump say he believes the Time Warner deal would focus too much of the power in the media industry in one company.
The Time Warner deal is "an example of the power structure I'm fighting," Trump said before he was elected.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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