{"id":138155,"date":"2020-12-21T04:12:37","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T01:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/att-disappointed-with-offers-for-directv\/"},"modified":"2020-12-21T04:12:37","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T01:12:37","slug":"att-disappointed-with-offers-for-directv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/att-disappointed-with-offers-for-directv\/","title":{"rendered":"#AT&T disappointed with offers for DirecTV"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#AT&T disapp<\/a>ointed with offers for DirecTV<\/strong>”
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AT&T\u2019s attempt to unload \u00adDirecTV has been thrown into doubt, as the telecom giant has signaled it\u2019s unhappy with the offers it has received for the struggling satellite-TV service, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, AT&T pushed back a deadline for final bids for DirecTV into January \u2014 and told prospective bidders it may cancel the auction altogether if it doesn\u2019t get better offers, according to sources close to the situation.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 9, The Wall Street Journal reported that a fresh round of bids came in at more than $15 billion including debt. But insiders tell The Post that AT&T \u2014 dissatisfied with those offers \u2014 has invited private-equity giant TPG Capital to study the books in hopes that it will make a binding offer that props up the price.<\/p>\n

Other participants include Apollo Global Management, which according to sources offered less than $15 billion including debt; and investing tycoon Michael Klein\u2019s blank-check company Churchill Capital Corp. IV.<\/p>\n

Indeed, AT&T\u2019s threat to cancel the auction appears to have surprised bidders, including Klein. Last week, Klein priced a second blank-check company, Churchill Capital Corp. V, at $450 million, leading some to speculate he had been confident of closing the DirecTV deal this month.<\/p>\n

Now, Klein \u2014 who according to one source had voiced optimism about \u201cgood news<\/a>\u201d regarding DirecTV in the coming days \u2014 is in the unusual position of having two blank-check companies searching for deals.<\/p>\n

Bidders are surprised by AT&T\u2019s threat to pack up and go home partly because its DirecTV business continues to shrink amid rising competition with video-streaming platforms like Netflix \u2014 and, more recently, AT&T\u2019s own HBO Max service.<\/p>\n

Last week, a report by New Street Research predicted that DirecTV\u2019s EBITDA \u2014 or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a key financial metric \u2014 will plunge to $3 billion in 2022 from around $4.5 billion this year.<\/p>\n

Sources said buyout proposals in the $15 billion range call for the purchaser to pay something close to $3.75 billion in exchange for a 49 percent stake in the company, with AT&T keeping a slightly larger sum to maintain a majority interest. The remaining $7.5 billion would be financed by new debt.<\/p>\n

AT&T, which didn\u2019t return a request for comment, could use the proceeds to participate in upcoming spectrum auctions, pay down debt or to pay dividends, sources said.
Nevertheless, that\u2019s a painful markdown for AT&T, whose former Chief Executive Randall Stephenson in 2015 shelled out $49 billion for DirecTV plus a mountain of debt that brought the total to $66 billion.<\/p>\n

The fact that bids didn\u2019t improve enough in the latest round appears to have rankled AT&T\u2019s new boss, John Stankey, who wants to retain a majority stake in the satellite-TV unit while giving the winning bidder operating control of the company for tax reasons.
New Street Research believes AT&T also needs the proceeds to compete in upcoming auctions of cellular spectrum.<\/p>\n

DirecTV is still bleeding subscribers after offering promotions at discounts that were too steep, a source close to the auction said.<\/p>\n

In the third quarter, DirecTV lost 690,000 net customers, leaving it with 13.6 million, according to cable-TV research consultant Bruce Leichtman.<\/p>\n

Compared to last year, DirecTV\u2019s subscriber base has plummeted 19 percent versus a 3.8 percent drop at archrival Dish Network and a 6 percent drop at cable-TV giant Comcast. While Leichtman believes the worst may be over for DirecTV, he said it likely will continue to lose more customers than its peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will need to be more of a focus now on acquiring customers,\u201d Leichtman said. \u201cIf there is a different owner of DirecTV, that\u2019s going to diminish losses.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#AT&T disappointed with offers for DirecTV” AT&T\u2019s attempt to unload \u00adDirecTV has been thrown into doubt, as the telecom giant has signaled it\u2019s unhappy with the offers it has received for the struggling satellite-TV service, The Post has learned. Earlier this month, AT&T pushed back a deadline for final bids for DirecTV into January \u2014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/12\/att-directv-bidders.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[87223,5039,74660,70584,70360],"class_list":["post-138155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-20-20","tag-att","tag-directv","tag-mergers-acquisitions","tag-wall-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}