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Holy crap I didn't realize the AT&T/Time Warner merger was a leveraged buyout.
No wonder they've been tearing through the place like a bull in a china shop.
No wonder they've been tearing through the place like a bull in a china shop.
For normal people, who don't follow obscure and opaque financial dealings:
A leveraged buyout means AT&T went into debt to borrow the money to purchase Time Warner.
A leveraged buyout means AT&T went into debt to borrow the money to purchase Time Warner.
Now, the nasty, sneaky part is that the company borrowing the money to finance the buyout can use the assets of the company they're buying as collateral.
Like a mortgage, except to pay it down they start selling the light fixtures, the wiring, the copper pipes ...
Like a mortgage, except to pay it down they start selling the light fixtures, the wiring, the copper pipes ...
This is the heart of why AT&T is "restructuring."
They need to get their books in balance and somehow make Time Warner more profitable than it already was, even if it means stripping it to the bone.
It means Time Warner and all its subsidiaries will be a shell of themselves.
They need to get their books in balance and somehow make Time Warner more profitable than it already was, even if it means stripping it to the bone.
It means Time Warner and all its subsidiaries will be a shell of themselves.
And this *especially* means stuff like DC Comics. That's easily one of the lowest profit centers in all of Time Warner, only now it'll be expected to make even more with even less.
They were already being held aloft by Warner Bros as it was ...
They were already being held aloft by Warner Bros as it was ...
If the "Release the Snyder Cut" imbeciles understood even 1/10 of how things work, they'd be directly up AT&T's ass right now.
Not to release an imaginary movie, but to keep DC Comics alive at all.
Not to release an imaginary movie, but to keep DC Comics alive at all.
What this also means is any fluctuation in the economy could be disastrous for everything under AT&T's umbrella.
If profit levels don't remain consistently high enough to reduce their debt, even more gets cut. If they don't, shareholders get lower (or even no) dividends.
If profit levels don't remain consistently high enough to reduce their debt, even more gets cut. If they don't, shareholders get lower (or even no) dividends.
It's precarious and dangerous for a company the size of AT&T to be sitting on enough debt to make a Pentagon bureaucrat blush.
And this is the full list of companies that could face cuts.
Did you know AT&T already owned Crunchyroll?
bigthink.com/stephen-johnso…
And this is the full list of companies that could face cuts.
Did you know AT&T already owned Crunchyroll?
bigthink.com/stephen-johnso…
There's also recession indicators flashing red. The yield curve recently inverted, which has signaled a recession was months away every single time it happened since 1968.
This was a bad, bad time for AT&T to go into a leveraged buyout.
npr.org/2019/06/30/737…
This was a bad, bad time for AT&T to go into a leveraged buyout.
npr.org/2019/06/30/737…
What this all means is that AT&T is going to be more and more aggressive with cost-cutting, which could impact everything from Rooster Teeth to Super Deluxe to Steven Universe.
Yes, AT&T owns them all.
Yes, AT&T owns them all.
Well, let's see: a massive company highly specialized in one sector of the economy buying out a company that specializes in a *completely different* industry.
Yeah, sure sounds like a reboot to me.
Yeah, sure sounds like a reboot to me.
On the left, a list of companies AT&T already owned before the buyout. On the right, the companies they acquired when they bought Time Warner.
Not a whole lot of overlap.
Yeah, smells like AOL/Time Warner all over again.
Not a whole lot of overlap.
Yeah, smells like AOL/Time Warner all over again.
What "doesn't count" is pretty much antitrust law in general.
It was codified in an era before intangibles could be more valuable than physical goods and services.
It's been neglected so long it might as well be irrelevant.
It was codified in an era before intangibles could be more valuable than physical goods and services.
It's been neglected so long it might as well be irrelevant.
