A short list of mergers and acquisitions by AT&T

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AT&T was incorporated in 1983 and has its headquarters in Texas.  It was known as SBC communications earlier. The company was formed as a holding company to hold the local telephone companies of AT&T corp. However, after an anti-trust content decree, the company spun off from AT&TC  to become an independent telecommunications company. Now, it is among the leading providers of telecommunications, media and technology services. Over these years, AT&T has expanded its footprint in several areas since its formation through mergers and acquisitions. Here is a list of major mergers and acquisitions by AT&T in its history.

  • 1997- The subsidiaries of AT&T merged with Pacific Telesis Group.
  • 1998- The subsidiaries of AT&T merged with Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation
  • 1999- The subsidiaries of AT&T merged with Ameritech Corporation. These mergers expanded the wireline operations of AT&T as the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) into a total of 13 states.
  • 2005- In November 2005 AT&T merged one of its subsidiaries with ATTC, and thus was created one of the world’s leading telecommunications providers. After the merger, the name of the company was changed from “SBC Communications Inc.” to “AT&T Inc.”
  • 2006 – In December 2006, AT&T merged one of its subsidiaries with BellSouth Corporation (BellSouth). This merger made it the ILEC in an additional nine states. With the BellSouth acquisition, AT&T also acquired BellSouth’s 40 percent economic interest in AT&T Mobility LLC (AT&T Mobility), formerly Cingular Wireless LLC, which led to its 100 percent ownership of AT&T Mobility.
  • 2014 – AT&T completed the acquisition of wireless provider Leap Wireless International, Inc. in 2014.  It sold its ILEC operations in Connecticut, which the company had previously acquired in 1998.
  • 2015- AT&T acquired wireless properties in Mexico. In July 2015, it acquired DIRECTV. DIRECTV was a leading provider of digital television entertainment services in both the United States and Latin America.
  • 2018 – AT&T acquired Time Warner Inc. (Time Warner), a leader in media and entertainment that operates the Turner, Home Box Office (HBO) and Warner Bros. business units in 2018. It also acquired Otter Media Holdings and advertising platform AppNexus. The acquisition of Time warner was completed in June, 2018. This deal provides the company access to Time Warner’s vast library of content as well as ability to create new premium content for global audiences with AT&T’s extensive customer relationships and distribution, one of the world’s largest pay-TV subscriber bases and scale in TV, mobile and broadband distribution. This deal was challenged by Justice Department but a federal court upheld the merger worth $85 bn. AT&T also believed that DOJ’s appeal was without merit.