AT&T’s Dealmaking Ways Aren't Paying Off Yet
DirecTV and Time Warner created a monster debt load and a fight for resources.
Too much going on?
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergWhat if AT&T Inc. hadn’t bought its way into the media production and distribution businesses and had instead remained just a boring ol’ wireless carrier? Lately, it’s hard not to wonder.
On Wednesday morning, the $240 billion conglomerate posted results for the third quarter that showed the difficulty of owning multiple lines of business when each one needs more attention and resources than ever. AT&T’s stock dropped more than 3 percent in early trading as the company lost wireless tablet customers and Ebitda for its entertainment group shrank. Adding insult to injury, the shaky report comes a day after AT&T’s biggest rival on the wireless side, Verizon Communications Inc., posted generally upbeat results that drove its own stock to a more than 18-year high — and on a down day for U.S. markets. In fact, AT&T hasn’t lagged this far behind Verizon since the early 1990s: