Aquires DirecTV
AT&T buys DirecTV for $48.5 billion, giving stockholders $95 a share in cash and stock. The deal will make AT&T the country’s second-biggest pay TV provider, behind Comcast. AT&T has about 5.7 million TV customers through its U-verse service, while the satellite TV operator has about 20.3 million customers in the United States. Randall Stephenson, chairman & CEO says:
This is a unique opportunity that will redefine the video entertainment industry and create a company able to offer new bundles and deliver content to consumers across multiple screens. If you think about what we’re trying to accomplish, we’re trying to get way down the road to get content across multiple devices. The more we peeled the onion back, frankly the better we felt about this.