AT&T and Time Warner were ecstatic when both sides agreed on a merger last month. Now that Donald Trump has won the U.S. Presidential elections, the excitement has turned into despair.
The president-elect of the United States of America has indicated before that he is against the move and that he will not approve it.
"AT&T is buying Time Warner, a deal that we will not approve," Trump said during a campaign speech in Gettysburg, PA. "It is too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," he further explained.
According to the deal, AT&T will purchase Time Warner for $85.4 billion.
AT&T CFO John Stephens welcomed the win by saying that the company is looking forward "to working with president-elect Trump and his transition team".
"We've been the leading investor in this country for the last five years running and our Time Warner transaction is all about innovation, economic development, consumer choice and investment in infrastructure," Stephens added.
Investors are skeptical, however. After the win by Trump, Wednesday data showed that shares of Time Warner fell while AT&T shares traded higher.
According to Reuters, Wall Street is bracing for the negative repercussions of a Trump win. And now that the businessman-turned-politician will be the next head of state, many companies aside from AT&T and Time Warner, are rethinking mergers and acquisitions.
Reuters mentioned that Goldman Sachs projected a 20 to 30 percent drop "for earnings of banks that focus on merger and acquisition advice".
Another point of contention for big businesses is Trump's polices regarding trade and taxes along with healthcare and energy.
According to Fox Business, those behind the AT&T and Time Warner merger see the deal as a necessity. They believe that without the merger, both companies will fall behind and that by combining their assets, they will continue to be among the top businesses in the country.
