AT&T Inc., spinoff details:
May 17, 2021: AT&T Inc. (T) and Discovery, Inc. (DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) announced a definitive agreement to combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company.
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Update(s):
June 1, 2021: Discovery, Inc. (DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) announced the new name of the proposed standalone global entertainment company that will emerge from the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery assets: "Warner Bros. Discovery."
June 23, 2021: EA Will Acquire Playdemic for $1.4 Billion in Cash.The remaining Warner Bros. Games portfolio is included in the recently announced WarnerMedia-Discovery transaction and will become part of the combined media and entertainment company after the expected close of that transaction.
August 10, 2021: The company recently completed its DIRECTV transaction with TPG Capital and is moving forward with its plans to spin or split off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery to form a new entertainment company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
September 14, 2021: AT&T (T) continues to anticipate that its pending WarnerMedia-Discovery transaction will close by mid-2022.
November 17, 2021: With regard to its pending WarnerMedia transaction with Discovery, the company continues to expect the transaction to close by mid-2022.
While dividend decisions are made at the discretion of the AT&T board of directors, Desroches said that after the transaction closes, AT&T expects an annual dividend payout ratio of 40% to 43% on anticipated free cash flows of $20 billion plus, equating to $8 billion to $9 billion in dividends annually.
December 6, 2021: Regarding the pending WarnerMedia-Discovery transaction, Stankey said the regulatory review process is proceeding as expected. Stankey reiterated expectations of leverage levels of 2.6x at the close of the deal and 2.5x by yearend 2023.
February 1, 2022: AT&T Inc (T) said it will spin off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion transaction to merge its media properties with Discovery Inc (DISCA) and also cut its dividend by nearly half.
AT&T shareholders will own 71% of the new Warner Bros. Discovery company and will receive a 0.24 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery for each AT&T share they own. AT&T will have 7.2 billion diluted shares outstanding after the transaction closes.
February 1, 2022: The transaction, which will spin off 100% of AT&T’s interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T’s existing shareholders in a pro rata distribution, followed by the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
On the closing date of the transaction, each AT&T shareholder will receive, on a tax-free basis, an estimated 0.24 shares of the new WBD common stock for each share of AT&T common stock held as of the record date for the pro rata distribution.
March 11, 2022: Discovery Inc (DISCA) shareholders voted to approve the media company's $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia, moving the deal one step closer to completion.
March 25, 2022:
AT&T Inc.* (T) announced that it has declared a stock dividend to effect the spin-off of 100% of AT&T’s interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T’s shareholders. The record date for the stock dividend is the close of business on April 5, 2022.
On the closing date of the transaction, anticipated to be in April, AT&T shareholders will receive, on a tax-free basis, an estimated 0.24 shares of stock in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) for each share of AT&T common stock.
AT&T Inc. (T) announced that it has declared a stock dividend to effect the spin-off of 100% of AT&T’s interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T’s shareholders. The record date for the stock dividend is the close of business on April 5, 2022. On the closing date of the transaction, anticipated to be in April, AT&T shareholders will receive, on a tax-free basis, an estimated 0.24 shares of stock in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) for each share of AT&T common stock.
April 8, 2022: Discovery, Inc. and AT&T Inc.* (T) announced that they have closed their transaction to combine the WarnerMedia business with Discovery. The combination creates a premier standalone global media and entertainment company, Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., which will begin trading on the Nasdaq with the start of trading on April 11, under the new ticker symbol “WBD.”
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