AT&T Considers Selling DirecTV (Report)
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Telecom giant AT&T is considering off-loading satellite TV subsidiary DirecTV, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources.
The company has also mulled spinning off DirecTV into a separate company, as well as merging DirecTV’s assets with satellite-TV company Dish Network, said the outlet.
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AT&T declined to comment.
Shares of AT&T, which trade under the ticket T, are popping nearly 1% in extended hours, after closing down 1.1% during the regular session Wednesday.
Dish Network shares are trading higher after hours, up 1.8% after closing out the session up 0.8%.
The news comes less than a week after AT&T was sued by a group of investors for allegedly creating fake DirecTV Now accounts and artificially inflating subscriber figures for the streaming service.
The federal class-action lawsuit alleges that AT&T wanted to make DirecTV Now look more successful than it is as a way to rationalize its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, or what is now called WarnerMedia.
AT&T said in a statement that it plans to “fight these baseless claims in court.”
On Sept. 9, activist investor Elliott Management said that it has staked $3.2 billion in AT&T and criticized AT&T for purportedly underperforming the rest of the market, asserting that its Time Warner and DirecTV deals have hurt the overall company’s financial health.
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