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-- 2016 -- October 25: It takes a particularly
complicated type of merger to unite Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Wall
Street in their skepticism of it ... Donald Trump,
addressing a crowd in Gettysburg, said his administration would not approve
[the merger deal between AT&T and Time Warner] because “it’s too much
concentration of power in the hands of too few.”
[See more about AT&T deal at November 10, 2017]
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/10/att-time-warner-boo-hiss/505367/ -- 2017 --
Back to top August 24: The Trump Administration Just Approved a Dangerous Merger
November 10: The Trump administration's
showdown with AT&T [regarding it's proposed merger with Time Warner] could turn
into a legal fight unlike anything corporate America has seen in four decades.
[AT&T's] proposed deal with Time Warner is a so-called vertical acquisition,
because Time Warner would add a new line of business to AT&T: AT&T (T,
Tech30)
sells internet, phone and video services, and Time Warner (TWX)
makes content. The companies do not compete with one another. Because vertical
mergers typically don't reduce competition, U.S. regulators very rarely fight to
stop them.
Unlike in most other countries, the government does not have the power to block
a deal outright -- it has to sue to block it.
March 29: “It’s So Transparently
Ridiculous”: Wall Street Groans as Its M&A Future Hangs on Trump’s Sham AT&T
Trial
At stake is not only AT&T’s still-pending $85 billion
acquisition of Time Warner but also, as many on Wall Street see it, the future
of the M&A business itself. This is serious, since there is no higher margin
business in finance. “The concept that AT&T is going to use its distribution to,
in any way, favor its own content, which itself needs to be on every other
distribution channel, is preposterous,” says one veteran M&A banker.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/wall-street-trump-sham-atandt-trial
May 11: AT&T Gave Trump’s Lawyer $600,000 to
Help Get Its Merger Approved (and Its Taxes Cut)
AT&T gave over half-a-million dollars to [Michael] Cohen’s company — which had,
on occasion, made payments to porn stars on the president’s behalf — because the
telecom company believed that doing so would increase the odds of the president
approving their $85 billion merger, and signing a corporate tax cut bill that
was maximally deferential to its interests.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/at-and-t-paid-trumps-lawyer-to-get-its-merger-approved.html
May 12: Giuliani says Trump did not
intervene to nix AT&T-Time Warner merger
June 14: The head of the Justice
Department’s antitrust division is sticking to his position about how to protect
competition from mergers that may harm consumers despite suffering a bruising
defeat this week, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
September 13: The chairman of the Federal
Trade Commission, which stops mergers it believes will push up prices, signaled
on Thursday he was willing to consider tougher enforcement, a move that could
affect high profile big tech companies but also energy producers, drug makers
and a big swath of the U.S. economy.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/reuters-america-trumps-antitrust-enforcer-considers-a-gear-shift.html -- 2019 --
Back to top
Back to topJanuary 16: A congressional antitrust panel
plans to examine whether the White House improperly influenced merger oversight,
including the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block
AT&T Inc.’s takeover of
Time Warner Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter.
Democrat David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who is taking over as chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, wants to examine what role, if any,
President
Donald Trump has played in some of the biggest mergers during his
administration, said the person, who declined to identified.
His plans are part of a broader effort by Democrats, who took control of the
House this month, to increase congressional oversight of the Trump
administration. Cicilline is stepping into the leadership role as economists and
policy advocates are pushing for stepped-up antitrust enforcement to combat
rising corporate consolidation across the economy.
