AT&T is said to favor a strategy whereby their acquired companies would retain a high degree of autonomy. Separation of the businesses will likely please regulators worried about the prioritization of Time Warner content on the company’s networks.
July 14, 2017
‘Time Warner will get a new boss — John Stankey, who currently heads AT&T’s entertainment group — once the telco’s deal for the media conglomerate closes, according to a report.
AT&T expects to close the $85 billion deal for Time Warner, barring potential curveballs from the Trump administration, by the end of 2017.
At that point the telco will restructure into two divisions: a media group including Time Warner led by Stankey; and a communications group encompassing DirecTV, wireless and wireline businesses headed by John Donovan, currently AT&T’s chief strategy officer, Bloomberg reported Friday citing anonymous sources.’