Senior executives at AT&T and Time Warner have met in recent weeks to discuss various business strategies including a possible merger, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The talks, which at this stage are informal, have focused on building relations between the companies rather than establishing the terms of a specific transaction, the report said, noting that neither side has yet hired a financial adviser.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes is a willing seller if he gets an offer he thinks is fair, said one of the agency's sources. Time Warner rejected an USD 85-a-share approach in 2014 from 21st Century Fox, which valued Time Warner at more than USD 75 billion. The company's share price rose 4.7 percent to USD 82.99 after the report, valuing Time Warner at about USD 64.5 billion.
AT&T has already been expanding in the TV business with its acquisition of DirecTV, and a takeover of Time Warner would give it access to content to key programming from the likes of HBO and Turner.
