Private equity firm TPG has "entered into exclusive talks to acquire a minority stake in AT&T Inc’s satellite TV division, DirecTV, in a deal that would allow the U.S. wireless carrier to trim its net debt of close to $150 billion," according to sources cited by Hu & Franklin of REUTERS. The "exact price TPG is willing to pay could not be learned." But sources said that the deal "could value DirecTV at more than $15 billion," adding that were the negotiations to "conclude successfully, a deal could be announced in the coming weeks." Hu & Franklin noted the advanced talks with TPG are the "culmination of an auction that AT&T ran for DirecTV for several months." The deal "would crystallize a financial hit for AT&T, which valued DirecTV at about $67 billion including debt when it agreed to acquire it in 2014." AT&T’s "biggest deal," its $85B acquisition of media conglomerate Time Warner in '18, has "soured in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a plunge in movie theater attendance weighs on its film revenue." TPG has about $85B in "assets under management" (REUTERS, 1/22).
