The WarnerMedia and Discovery megamerger by the numbers
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AT&T is ditching the media properties it scooped up a few years ago. They'll merge with Discovery's in a new, yet-to-be-named entity.
The bottom line: The deal isn't doesn't just create a massive wrinkle in the streaming wars, but also the connectivity wars as AT&T shifts back to its telecom roots, Axios' Sara Fischer notes.
Here are the numbers behind the deal that creates a new mega-content giant.
22: The number of networks that'll be under one roof.
$20 billion: How much the new business plans to spend annually on content — $3 billion more than Netflix spent all of last year.
-5%: How shares of Discovery ended the day. Shares of AT&T fell 3%.
- Investors are more confident AT&T will be able to manage its debt load if today's upward bond movement is any signal, the Wall Street Journal notes.
$230 billion: The size of AT&T's massive debt pile that's built up as it veered deeper into media.
$43 billion: How much AT&T said it would get from the deal (a mix of cash and debt). Some of the deal proceeds will go toward paying down the debt.
- The deal (plus an imminent dividend cut) helps AT&T "reinvest capital into its wireless and fiber business opportunities," per Moody's.
$85 billion: What AT&T paid for Time Warner in 2016 after a contentious antitrust fight. Back then wireless companies wanted to own the pipes and the content. That trend is reversing.
