AT&T announces $43 billion deal to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery
Summary
If approved by regulators, the deal effectively reverses AT&Ts years-long plan to combine content and distribution in a vertically integrated company. Under the agreement, AT&T will unwind its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, which closed just under three years ago and form a new media company with Discovery. AT&T said Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav will lead the new company, which will have a new name announced in coming days. "It is super exciting to combine such historic brands, world class journalism and iconic franchises under one roof and unlock so much value and opportunity," Zaslav said, adding that AT&T and Discoverys assets "are better and more valuable together." Zaslav also said on "Squawk on the Street" that the deal was possible now after Stankey collected many of WarnerMedias various media properties under a single brand instead of selling its content to third parties like it had done before the AT&T acquisition.