Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

@b2 Warner (and Directv) were simply substitutes for the failed T-Mobile deal.

@jy I thought that’s what Elliot was supposed to do when they bought into a board seat?😂

Anyone else held on to WBD stock? It was $11 now selling for $31..

These people are not as d-mb as you think. What the stockholders eat as massive losses on these M&A deals are fed back to the execs and board members as well-disguised kickback deals through various intermediaries and favors. The C-suite and board members get rich at the expense of the stockholders. We need an activist stakeholder to buy in and force some house cleaning or we are circling the drain.

I have it on good authority that the board is in talks to make a stalking horse bid for Warner Discovery later this week.

We owned Warner Bors and sold? Someone should be fired.

@ab You left out the T-Mobile disaster and the Comcast debacle where we sold the company back to the Roberts family (who we bought it from) for half of the cost they received from us. And NCR lol.

https://youtu.be/GAexTAlIf3Q?si=hc1glVAtaGYOggje - ugh

What do we know about media? We are a telecom company.

We should have stayed in streaming. That is where the money is.

@ap you are an id--t and an a$$hole, little man

Why did Stankey sell this for $40b? Way too cheap.

@ap

Because I can collect a steady paycheck for doing very little work, while at the same time, finding ways to waste company resources. It's fun!

Now if I left and started working at a place with competent performance and asset management, that might put a crimp in my fun. Can't have that.

If you and I had those same blunders with just thousands of dollars we’d be walked out the door. Yet these clowns get bonuses. We are always having to scrimp and scrounge for everything and never have budget. And yes, I’ll let the cat out of the bag and admit we have to pirate software or use without a license because they will never fund it.

Corporate strategy - buy high sell low…and how about the botched T-Mobile acquisition!!

Why do you stay? If a manager, you are a reflection of company decisions.

Just the Facts - 6 Years of Selling Assets at a Loss

WARNER BROTHERS

1. The Purchase (2018)
   AT&T officially closed its acquisition of Time Warner in June 2018.
   Price Tag: Approximately $85.4 billion in cash and stock.
   Total Enterprise Value: When including the debt AT&T assumed from Time Warner, the total deal value was roughly $108.7 billion.

2. The "Sale" / Spinoff (2022)
   In April 2022, AT&T exited the media business by spinning off WarnerMedia and merging it with Discovery Inc. to form the new company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Because this was structured as a "Reverse Morris Trust" rather than a straight cash sale, the value AT&T "received" is calculated differently:
   Cash and Debt Relief: AT&T received $40.4 billion in cash.

DIRECT TV

1. DirecTV (The Biggest "Ouch")
   This is often cited as one of the most value-destructive acquisitions in corporate history. AT&T bought the satellite provider just as "cord-cutting" was accelerating.

Purchased (2015): $48.5 billion (Approx. $67 billion including debt).

1. Sold (2021–2025): AT&T first spun it off into a new entity with TPG Capital in 2021 (valuing the business at only $16 billion). In late 2024, they agreed to sell their remaining 70% stake to TPG for $7.6 billion.

The Damage: AT&T effectively lost tens of billions of dollars in equity value on this deal over 10 years.

XANDR

1. AppNexus / Xandr (The Ad-Tech Play)
   To make their media content more profitable, AT&T bought AppNexus to build out "Xandr," their own digital advertising marketplace.
   Purchased (2018): Estimated $1.6 billion.

2. Sold (2021): Sold to Microsoft for roughly $1 billion.

The Result: A loss of about $600 million.

Do we know how much Discovery was worth at that time? Hard to believe discovery added that much value. Or maybe not… T destroys value of almost everything it touches.

Paid roughly $100billion. Sold it for $43billion.