AT&T shares dropped briefly this morning thanks in large part to investor worry that President Trump will block the company's proposed $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. Reuters notes that AT&T stock fell roughly 2% in early trading among the concerns. But speaking at the Wells Fargo technology, media and telecoms conference in New York today, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said the telecom giant was looking forward to working with Trump and remained "optimistic" that regulators would approve the deal.
"It's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," Trump said during an October rally.
That's in contrast to his challenger Hillary Clinton, who refused to admonish the deal in any serious capacity, only stating that the she hoped regulators would take a thorough look at the deal.
AT&T's deal certainly isn't alone in needing regulatory approval, with CenturyLink's acquisition of Level 3 and Windstream's proposed acquisition of Earthlink waiting for approval next year under the new President. Most of these deals were proposed under the belief that they had a relatively good chance of passing under either potential candidate.
On a positive note for companies like AT&T, Trump has given every indication that he opposes net neutrality -- despite
seemingly not understanding what it is. And while his telecom policy proposals have been murky at best, a Republican-controlled FCC is likely to kill numerous policy efforts including cable box reform and efforts to bring additional competition to bear on industry incumbents.