On Thursday night, soon after the Justice Department said it would not seek a stay of its antitrust lawsuit, AT&T completed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. AT&T was anxious to close the deal by June 20, at which point Time Warner could withdraw or renegotiate its terms. A federal judge approved the merger on Tuesday.
The combination of AT&T, the No. 2 wireless carrier, and Time Warner's stable of content — including HBO, CNN, Warner Bros., TBS, and TNT — plus AT&T's DirecTV subsidiary will reshape the media and entertainment landscape. Only a handful of other internet companies control both the content and means to distribute it: Comcast owns NBCUniversal and is bidding for 21st Century Fox, and Verizon owns AOL and Yahoo. The Justice Department has 60 days to appeal its loss of the antitrust lawsuit, but experts suggest it would likely lose any appeal.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rallySpeed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
-
US charges Indian tycoon with bribery, fraudSpeed Read Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by US prosecutors for his role in a $265 million scheme to secure solar energy deals
-
Boeing machinists approve contract, end strikeSpeed Read The company's largest union approved the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike
-
US economy still strong in final preelection reportSpeed Read It grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate from July through September
-
Boeing machinists reject deal, continue strikeSpeed Read The rejection came the same day Boeing reported a $6.2 billion quarterly loss
