# WarnerMedia The name [[AT&T]] gave [[Time Warner]] on June 15, 2018, the day after it closed its **$85.4 billion** acquisition. The company owned [[CNN]], HBO, Warner Bros. and the Turner cable networks. It existed for less than four years. ## How AT&T got it AT&T announced the deal on October 22, 2016. As a candidate, [[Donald Trump]] said he would block it. His Justice Department sued in November 2017, a rare government challenge to a vertical merger, and the suit was widely read as aimed at CNN. On June 12, 2018 Judge Richard Leon ruled that the government had "insufficient evidence" of competitive harm, and AT&T closed two days later. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in February 2019. See [[AT&T - Time Warner Acquisition]]. ## How AT&T lost it The theory was vertical integration: own the pipes (wireless, DirecTV) and the content that runs through them. It failed on debt. AT&T came out of the purchase with a very heavy debt load and still had to fund HBO Max (launched May 27, 2020) against Netflix and Disney. On May 17, 2021 AT&T announced it would spin WarnerMedia off and merge it with Discovery. The deal closed on **April 8, 2022**, creating [[Warner Bros. Discovery]] under [[David Zaslav]]. ## Why it matters for the KB WarnerMedia is the middle link in CNN's ownership chain, from Turner to Time Warner to AT&T to WBD to the [[Paramount Skydance - Warner Bros. Discovery Deal]]. Each change of hands was a chance for the owner's politics to reach the newsroom. The first Trump administration tried to use antitrust to reach CNN and lost in court. The second got closer through a friendly buyer. ## Related - [[AT&T]] · [[Time Warner]] · [[CNN]] · [[Warner Bros. Discovery]] - [[AT&T - Time Warner Acquisition]] · [[CNN and Warner Bros. Discovery Timeline]] - [[Antitrust]] · [[Media Consolidation]]