Acquisition of DirecTV by AT&T

AT&T Inc. announced on May 18, 2014, that it would acquire The DirecTV Group, Inc. (the largest Satellite TV provider), for $48.5 billion in a joint cash-stock deal, and assumed debts of $18.6 billion, for a total offer of $67.1 billion.^[1][2] AT&T sought to diversify into the media industry as its wireless business began to stall in growth.^[3][4] After U.S. regulatory agencies approved the purchase, on July 24, 2015, AT&T integrated DirecTV into its newly created entertainment division.^[5] On November 30, 2016, The DirecTV Now streaming service was launched as AT&T's first direct-to-consumer platform.^[6][7] Despite hopes for success, DirecTV lost millions of subscribers, and calls grew for AT&T to sell it and refocus on telecommunications.^[8]

On February 25, 2021, AT&T and TPG (a private equity firm) jointly announced that DirecTV would be spun off as a separate company.^[9] Under the agreement, AT&T would retain a 70% majority stake in DirecTV, but would no longer oversee its day-to-day operations. The deal was finalized by August 2, 2021, with AT&T receiving $7.1 billion and TPG becoming the minority owner of DirecTV.^[10][11] By mid-2025, AT&T sold its majority stake to TPG, ending a decade of involvement with DirecTV and granting TPG full ownership.^[12]

The company to bear the name "AT&T" was founded on March 3, 1885 as American Telephone and Telegraph Company (or AT&T Corporation) by Theodore Newton Vail as a long-distance subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company. By December 1899, the Bell Telephone's assets were transferred to AT&T, with the latter gaining control of the Bell System, a regional network of local telecom companies. Theodore Vail became AT&T's President in 1907 and under his leadership, AT&T gained a monopoly over the telephone sector in the United States. This near century dominance earned AT&T the nickname of "Ma Bell." In 1974, the U.S. Department of Justice sued AT&T on accounts of antitrust violations. AT&T challenged the lawsuit, but in 1982, it reached a settlement with the DOJ to break apart its Bell System monopoly into seven regional companies. On January 1, 1984, the Bell System came to an end and led to a reshaped telecom industry.

One of these regional companies, Southwestern Bell, emerged as the smallest, but after the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act, deregulated telecom rules allowed SBC to become a major telecom company. AT&T briefly became the largest cable and broadband company by the end of the 20th Century, but later deconsolidated to exit those industries. In 2005, SBC acquired its former parent, AT&T, and took on its branding as AT&T Inc, while retaining its previous business history. The newly reincorporated AT&T acquired BellSouth in 2006 and reconstituted much of its former Bell System. By the early 2010s, growth of the wireless industry began to stagnate.

Acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T