1.媒体来源:
Yahoo Finance
2.完整新闻标题:
Judge approves AT&T-Time Warner merger
3.完整新闻内文:
A federal judge on Tuesday approved AT&T’s (T) $85 billion acquisition of
Time Warner (TWX), in a case that has captivated deal-watchers because it
involves a vertical merger, a type of deal that rarely faces challenges from
antitrust regulators.
Time Warner’s stock was up roughly 5% to around $101 in after-hours trading,
and AT&T’s stock was down 2% to $33.
The judge, Richard Leon, did not attach any conditions to his approval, in a
blow to the Justice Department, which challenged the deal.
Another telecom giant, Comcast (CMSA), likely watched the AT&T case closely
and will reportedly make a bid for Twenty-First Century Fox now that Judge
Leon has blessed the Time Warner mega-deal.
But companies outside the media landscape were likely also eagerly awaiting
Leon’s ruling, including CVS (CVS) Health Corp., which is trying to buy a
company it doesn’t compete directly with, the health insurer Aetna (AET).
If the deal goes through, it’s going to be a real green light for a lot of
vertical mergers in a lot of different sectors,” Emilie Feldman, an
associate professor of management at Wharton of the University of
Pennsylvania, told Yahoo Finance, before Leon issued his opinion.
She noted that, in recent years, companies have sought mergers as a way to
stay competitive as various industries like health care face consolidation
and increased competition from new technologies.
Reuters notes that Time Warner has been the target of three of the top 10
tech/media/telecom deals of all time, including the AT&T deal. In 2000,
America Online acquired Time Warner in a $181 billion deal. In 2014, 21st
Century Fox attempted to buy Time Warner in a $95 billion deal — but that
deal was withdrawn.
Several possible scenarios for this “very, very big case”
In its complaint, the U.S. government contended that AT&T, which owns
DirecTV, would gain the ability to force its rivals to pay “hundreds of
millions of dollars more per year for Time Warner’s networks” if the deal
went through. This leverage would cost American consumers money and leave
them with fewer entertainment choices, according to the government.
Judge Leon ruled in a 172-page opinion that the government failed to
establish that the deal was likely to “lesson competition substantially.”
In an email message, Cornell Law antitrust professor George Hay said the
opinion was “not a radical one” and would be tough to overturn on appeal.