Tag: Time-Warner

Cohen’s $600,000 deal with AT&T specified he would advise on Time Warner merger, internal company records show

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman, Brian Fung and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website May 10, 2018:

Michael Cohen Credit: Mary Altaffer, AP

Three days after President Trump was sworn into office, the telecom giant AT&T turned to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for help on a wide portfolio of issues pending before the federal government — including the company’s proposed merger with Time Warner, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The documents detail the full scope of Cohen’s $600,000 deal with AT&T and how his contract specified that he would provide advice on the $85 billion merger, which required the approval of federal antitrust regulators. Continue reading “Cohen’s $600,000 deal with AT&T specified he would advise on Time Warner merger, internal company records show”

Kushner told Time Warner exec CNN should fire a fifth of its staff: report

The following article by Josh Delk was posted on the Hill website November 10, 2017:

Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner told an executive from CNN’s parent company earlier this year that the news organization should fire 20 percent of its staff over its coverage of the 2016 election, according to a new report.

Kushner told Time Warner executive Gary Ginsberg that CNN should fire the employees because they were so wrong in their analysis of how the election would turn out, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A White House official said Kushner didn’t intend for the comment to be taken seriously and was only trying to make a point, according to the Journal, which reported that the remark “wasn’t taken lightly” inside Time Warner. Continue reading “Kushner told Time Warner exec CNN should fire a fifth of its staff: report”

Justice Department Says Not So Fast to AT&T’s Time Warner Bid

The following article by Michael J. de la Merced, Emily Steel, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Cecilia Kang was posted on the New York Times website November 8, 2017:

An AT&T store in Manhattan’s East Village. Credit Christian Hansen for The New York Times

It seemed like a match made in media heaven. AT&T is a telecommunications giant whose reach stretches to millions of people all over the country, and Time Warner, the owner of CNN, HBO and Warner Bros., has content galore. Together, the two companies would create a colossus straddling the worlds of internet access, news and entertainment.

Until last week, AT&T’s pending $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner seemed destined to close by the end of the year. On Wednesday, however, tensions between the Justice Department and executives at the two companies spilled out into the open.

Now it seems possible that the Justice Department and AT&T will end up battling each other in court. The ongoing negotiations have also demonstrated how the Trump administration may regulate big-ticket mergers and acquisitions, representing the first major test for the government’s antitrust strategy. Continue reading “Justice Department Says Not So Fast to AT&T’s Time Warner Bid”