AT&T Spinning Off DirecTV After Losing Millions of Customers
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:
AT&T spinning off DirecTV after losing millions of customers:
AT&T is spinning off its DirecTV into a new company for a fraction of the $48.5 billion it paid for the satellite TV service in 2015. DirecTV has lost millions of customers on AT&T's watch, and is valued in the deal at just $16.25 billion, including debt.
Private equity firm TPG will own 30% of the business, while AT&T holds the rest. The telecom company will receive $7.8 billion in cash, including $1.8 billion from TPG and and $5.8 billion from the new DirecTV firm, which is borrowing that sum. The new DirecTV will also take on $200 million in debt from AT&T.
[...] "It's fair to say that some aspects of the (DirecTV) transaction have not played out as we had planned, such as pay TV households in the U.S. declining at a faster pace across the industry than anticipated," AT&T wrote.
Fnord666 added the following:
Interestingly, Apollo Global Management approached AT&T about spinning off DirecTV in 2019.
Private equity powerhouse Apollo Global Management, working with an outside banker, is pitching AT&T, Inc. a deal that would allow the telecom conglomerate to offload some of the risk of its troubled DirecTV unit while still maintaining control of the satellite service provider, FOX Business has learned.
At that time, AT&T COO John Stankey apparently said that
DirecTV is a crucial piece of his company's video strategy, and that it's not for sale. But the company reportedly hasn't entirely ruled out Apollo's plan.
Wikipedia entry on DirecTV.
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