It looks like AT&T has found a buyer for its besieged DirecTV business.
AT&T announced today will establish a new company with private equity firm TPG, called New DirecTV, which will oversee the video business of AT&T DirecTV, U-verse and AT&T TV, the latter recently absorbed the company’s AT&T TV Now service. The deal, that was it reported which will possibly be announced this week, it is said to value the new company at $ 16.225 billion. AT&T will own 70% of the business, while TPG will own 30% of New DirecTV.
The $ 7.8 billion deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021 and AT&T said it will use that money to help pay off its money. mountain of debt. It is unclear whether the deal will have a significant impact on the services as they exist and operate now, but AT&T said the start-up company “will continue to offer a competitive video service with the best content in its class.”
“This agreement fits our investment and operational focus on connectivity and content, and on the strategic businesses that are key to growing our relationships with 5G, fiber and HBO Max wireless customers,” said John Stankey, head of AT&T, a statement. “And it supports our deliberate commitment to capital allocation to invest in growth areas, keep the dividend at current levels, focus on debt reduction, and restructure or monetize non-core assets.”
He added: “As the pay-TV industry continues to evolve, forming a new entity with TPG to operate the U.S. video business separately provides the flexibility and dedicated management approach needed to continue to meet the needs of ‘a high quality customer base and managing business for profitability’.
Do you want to restructure or earn income with non-core assets? I wonder how many more WarnerMedia streaming service fire sales in the Crunchyroll that we will read in the future.
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