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AT&T Still Thinks Merger Will Be Approved Under Trump

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.

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"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.

Most recommended from 56 comments



maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

8 recommendations

maartena

Premium Member

When do people learn....

How the government actually works? Sure, I realize that Trump largely won in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida because of uneducated, blue collar voters.... but even them must have had basic government structure during their high school years.

A President can't just "do this" or "do that". Although he DOES have control over the military, and just like Bush with Iraq he can send in the troops to somewhere and deal with the inconvenience of officially declaring war till after the troops have already landed somewhere.... he isn't able to just block a deal like this. Or abolish Roe vs Wade, or cancel gay marriage, etc, etc.... All he can do is instruct the FCC, and the FCC will have the final vote. And they may block it if it's 3 Republicans vs 2 Democrats, but the reality is that the Democrats have been against this deal as well, so it may not even happen.
bcltoys
join:2008-07-21

5 recommendations

bcltoys

Member

Good

As they should

aztecnology
O Rly?
Premium Member
join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA

3 recommendations

aztecnology

Premium Member

Say what?

Ummmm T is up today....