AT&T Offers $85 Billion for Time Warner

Telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. is acquiring Time Warner Inc. in a deal valued at $85.4 billion, the companies announced Saturday. Dallas-based AT&T will pay $107.50 a share in cash and stock for Time Warner, the New York parent of Warner Bros. Entertainment, in Burbank, as well as network and cable television networks. Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said the deal was a natural fit between two innovative companies that have done much to shape the media and communications landscape. “Combining with AT&T dramatically accelerates our ability to deliver our great brands and premium content to consumers on a multiplatform basis and to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities created by the growing demand for video content,” Bewkes said in a prepared statement. San Fernando Valley operations of Time Warner include Warner Bros. Entertainment and Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, the headquarters for the filmed entertainment, home entertainment, interactive, consumer products and DC Entertainment divisions; Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System of Time Warner; and the CW television network, in Burbank, a joint venture with CBS Corp. Two years ago, 21st Century Fox made an unsolicited bid for Time Warner in a deal valued at about $30 billion. The Time Warner board immediately turned down the offer, confident the company’s portfolio of networks and its film studio and television production business could grow organically and doubting the ability of 21st Century Fox to manage the combined company. Shares in Time Warner closed down $2.74, or more than 3 percent, to $86.74 on the New York Stock Exchange.