AT&T will take a US attempt to block a deal with Time Warner, to court
Washington/New York — A defiant Randall Stephenson told antitrust enforcers that AT&T would see them in court after the justice department sued to block the company’s $85.4bn bid to buy Time Warner. The lawsuit "stretches the very idea of antitrust law beyond the breaking point", the AT&T CEO said at a briefing on Monday. He left the door open for negotiations to find a way for the deal to pass federal muster — but reiterated that he wouldn’t sell CNN to appease Washington, whether the deal was influenced by President Donald Trump or not. AT&T’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said the company was prepared to go to trial in as little as 60 days. It would then be up to a judge to determine whether the combination of AT&T and Time Warner would give the new entity too much power in the fast-changing media landscape, as Makan Delrahim, the new head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, contends. If the matter goes to court, AT&T will surely press for a decision before April 22, t...
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