A new AT&T merger unwinds a previous one

Over the weekend, a massive merger agreement was hammered out between telecom giant AT&T and entertainment company Discovery Inc. If it receives the blessing of federal regulators, AT&T will spin off its WarnerMedia unit—which includes CNN, HBO, and other assets—into a separate company that it will co-own with Discovery. The usual descriptions followed: it was a merger made in heaven (Discovery chief executive David Zaslav said the two “fit together like a glove”), with numerous synergies, and would create what the New York Times called “a juggernaut.” As Paul Farhi, Washington Post media reporter, pointed out following the news, a number of deals over the past two decades were described in similar terms, including the merger of Time Warner and AOL in 2000, in a deal that was worth about $165 billion at the time. It was later unwound, with Time Warner taking a massive write-down and spinning off AOL as a separate company. Despite the hyperbole, a number of analysts and media industry experts believe the deal represents an admission of failure by AT&T. The company said it planned to buy WarnerMedia in 2016, and spent the next two years fighting with competition regulators for approval to do the deal. The acquisition was finally approved in 2018, and AT&T bought the company for $85 billion, which it heralded as the start of a new media and entertainment empire. The unwinding of the deal is “a major course correction,” Axios wrote about the new arrangement.... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-05-18 12:05:33 UTC ]
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S4 Capital Hopes to Raise $126 Million to Further Expand Through Mergers

Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital proposed a new share offering today in hopes of raising $126 million (or 100 million euros) to further its expansion through mergers and acquisitions. The disclosure was made as part of S4 Capital's latest trading update where the company, which houses digital media... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2020-07-15 20:58:21 UTC ]
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Boston-based Cengage and McGraw-Hill drop merger plans

Both boards unanimously approved the termination of the merger, announced in May 2019 and originally expected to close in early 2020. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-05-04 15:05:34 UTC ]
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Cengage Announces a Termination of Its McGraw-Hill Merger Agreement

The two major educational publishers announced an all-stock merger a year ago, but ran into regulatory issues and criticism around market dominance and pricing. The post Cengage Announces a Termination of Its McGraw-Hill Merger Agreement appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-05-04 13:19:39 UTC ]
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McGraw-Hill and Cengage call off planned merger

Publishers McGraw-Hill and Cengage have mutually agreed to call off their planned merger. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-04 10:50:25 UTC ]
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McGraw-Hill, Cengage Call Off Merger

The inability to reach an agreement with the government about which divestitures the publishers needed to make to allow the merger to move forward led to the deal being canceled, the companies said. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Cengage/McGraw-Hill merger delayed again, following UK competition decision

The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will move on to a Phase Two investigation of the proposed merger between Cengage and McGraw-Hill, after concluding in its first probe that the move could result in higher-priced university textbooks. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-24 16:41:27 UTC ]
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UK competition authority raises concerns over Cengage/McGraw-Hill merger

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 21:53:42 UTC ]
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Meredith Claims “Strongest Competitive Position in History” After Time Inc. Merger

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[ Folio Magazine | 2020-02-06 19:40:45 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In Year-End Note, S&S’s Reidy Hails Merger, New Imprints, Bestsellers

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Reidy looks to 'exciting' 2020 following CBS merger

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-18 20:23:10 UTC ]
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New Zealand’s News Publishing Merger Back on the Table

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-12-16 18:30:39 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-06 12:57:56 UTC ]
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CBS, Viacom Merger Completed

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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After Its Merger, Gannett Will Be the Largest Newspaper Publisher in the U.S.

Shareholders approved a deal to combine GateHouse Media, which has received SoftBank funding, with the publisher of USA Today. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-11-14 20:26:07 UTC ]
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Meredith Sells Money Magazine Brand, Nearly Two Years After Time Inc. Merger

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[ Folio Magazine | 2019-10-22 16:06:17 UTC ]
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[ AdWeek | 2019-10-14 15:22:42 UTC ]
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[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-10-08 16:38:01 UTC ]
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[ Folio Magazine | 2019-10-03 20:41:59 UTC ]
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US student groups oppose McGraw-Hill/Cengage merger

Over 40 student organisations in the US have urged the US Department of Justice to block the proposed merger of publishers Cengage and McGraw-Hill. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-30 03:41:22 UTC ]
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