AT&T will pay $110 per Time Warner share in cash and stock, worth about $85 billion overall, sources said. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Apple Inc approached Time Warner a few months ago about a possible merger. Owning more content gives cable and telecom companies bargaining leverage with other content companies as customers demand smaller, hand-picked cable offerings or switch to watching online. A previous Time Warner blockbuster deal, its 2000 merger with AOL, is now considered one of the most ill-advised corporate marriages on record. Dallas-based AT&T and New York-based Time Warner did not immediately return calls for comment.

Source: The Telegraph October 22, 2016 21:11 UTC