https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/25/att-to-spin-off-directv-att-tv-now-and-u-verse-into-new-company.html
The question is: what will happen to the employees and their benefits, pension, etc.... more layoffs I assume. Stankey: how can you sleep at night? you ruined two great companies and lost $Billions - but you managed to make more money in the process. Isn't this a crime..... You should be in jail for the rest of your life..... Enron.....
Directv will be an improved product once it's untethered from AT&T. Yes linear tv and cord cutting are real. But the biggest drag on DirecTV the product has been AT&T, hands down. Upper management for the spinoff have a cohesive idea what needs to be done to salvage what's left, and the alluded to top priority is cutting the ties to AT&T... a fraud company with garbage leadership.
DTV was far and away the industry leader in pay tv, only to be run into the ground in a few short years. AT&T bought a Mercedes, started charging customers for a Bentley, and produced a Yugo. You'll see a rapid improvement of the product now that it's not being suffocated.
"They are selling a stake in it ... NOT selling it."
This is a distinction without a difference. It will be a partially owned subsidiary with its own policies and benefits. The employees will no longer be part of AT&T. The new owners are a private equity firm. What do you think is going to happen? In the past, private equity firms have taken on debt and awarded themselves high "management fees" while firing employees and stripping value. It's what they do. Look at ToysRus. Look at Neiman Marcus. Do you really think this time will be different? This is all about financial legerdemain to attempt to stanch the flow of blood from very incompetent executive decisions.
By the way, what's gonna happen if they lose one of their aging satellites?
"What happens to u-verse? Is it included in this transaction?"
It is, but that really doesn't matter. U-verse is a dead man walking. It is a very complex system that only runs on obsolete servers that are being held together with chewing gum and baling twine. Microsoft sold off the Mediaroom software that makes it work years ago. Most of the people who know how to make it work are scattered to the 4 winds now. The effort and expense required to bring it back from oblivion isn't justified by the business case. So, like I said, yeah, but it doesn't matter.
"Oh yeah, disgruntled workers get another chance to rehash an old complaint. Let the nagging continue."
You would have to be a groveling pitiful excuse for a human to not be outraged at the rich rewards that those in executive "leadership" positions have given given themselves for incompetence.
On what planet is that not outrageous?
what a joke. lets reward stank and rand for buying high and selling low. but its all good rand gets to retire and hired back as a consultant. he s—ing this company for as much as he can get.
Oh yeah, disgruntled workers get another chance to rehash an old complaint. Let the nagging continue.
Before all the failed M & a's, if T needed to cough up several billion for a special purpose, it was never a problem. Now they sell 30% stake in DTV for 6 Billion, but where is the balance of funding for spectrum auction comming from? What a disaster this company has become.
Will anyone in the C-Suite or on Board of Directors be held accountable?
@1xol+19ADFvHc
"The most important question, as I see it, is what about my DirectTV employee discount?"
You're correct; pretty much the best discount/perk we had left. Kinda sad. Regardless, the transition materials FAQ stated "...impacts to video products is not yet known." What this really means is you can be sure the employee discount dies when the deal closes.
Net proceeds = 5.1B
When it's all said and done, what were the net proceeds from this sale?
Confirmed that stupid Stinky agreed to keep 70% of the DTV debt. What a frigging m0r0n!
Please don't mention the employee discount as they will come after that as well.
Buy high and sell low is the mantra of the stooges that run this one great company.
Stankey doesn't want to leave as he is also one of the old timers he is trying to force into retirement. Nobody in their right mind would hire him. Even Ratty couldn't find another CEO position, had to come back for a free $1m/yr because nobody wanted to play golf with him when he wasn't CEO. The best Stankey could do is sell WM and become its CEO as he loves the red carpet and mingling with the fake movie stars.
I guess selling a 30% stake in DTV will pay for the recently acquired spectrum.
From the thread on the directv board...
" I hear you my friend. This place (El Segundo) is a ghost town and the ones who do show up look scared and beaten. All the best engineers and managers have bailed, so all that remain are the incompetent slugs, old-timers desperate for retirement and losers. Sad. "
What we legacy DTV Techs are struggling with is the sudden push from management to act like we are the DirecTV of olden days.
Let's be happy and sell the Protection Plan and say yes ma'am and yes sir and compliment their dog and tap dance like a ballerina on speed if they start ragging on us about how T is terrible and nothing works and it's too much money - yadda, yadda.
Instead, be like Dorothy and click our boot heels together three times and say there's no place like home as if we all pretend none of this AT&T stuff ever happened, then it will be the good old days of 2013.
Only the reality is we Techs is we hope the decrepit multi-refurbished 8 year old Genie we just stuck them with holds up long enough for us to get around the corner of their block before it starts acting up with software errors
Reminds me of the 45 year old newly divorced guy who starts dressing and acting like he did when he was 25 and single - he may think he's still "got it" - but everyone else in the room thinks he's an over the hill creep.
The "nonsensical" merger will go down in history "as one of the worst deals ever made," according to Craig Moffett, a telecom analyst at MoffettNathanson.
"And the crazy thing about it is that people knew it was a bad deal when it was happening," Moffett told CNN Business. "It's not like people at the time didn't see cord-cutting coming."
Now you see the real reason employee benefits have been cut.
The most important question, as I see it, is what about my DirectTV employee discount? Hoping we get to keep that given we still have the majority stake? Honestly it’s like the best benefit we have at this point...
Selling also affords AT&T not having to disclose any US based DTV or AT-Tv info such as customer losses etc...on quarterly reporting days. In other words, they can now hide detrimental info from investors.
They only sold off 30% stake
Welcome to the TITANIC in 2021.
Can you include Donovan's mo–ns (aka The Cookies) in the deal? Please.
What happens to u-verse? Is it included in this transaction?
The mother of all cluster f up's. Brought to you by chief strategist at the time John Stankey and worst CEO in corporate history Randall Stephenson. $30Billion plus in value vanished! Yes 30 Billion... Makes the $4 Billion this duo lost on the Tmobile screwup look tiny... The AT&T board needs to bring in someone who is a true outsider to clean up the mess. No executive in AT&T is able or capable of staightening out the AT&T ship. We need new blood at the top. Now! Wake up ATT board!!!
Stankey would not even make a good used car salesman!! TW will be the next bargain after Stankey breaks it!!
Lol, what a disaster. Can you imagine being the guy who knows more about the media business than anyone else and having to eat this schitburger?
And to too it all off, the stock not even moving an inch?
Same gonna happen with warner.
So Management won’t order batteries.....the techs would takeTV controllers that come with double AAs and there ya go ..a pricey new remote raped for 50 cents of batteries.
How about the management
All you have to do is Google the CEO of the newly formed company to roadmap the inevitable demise of it. This falls directly in line with all of the absolute absurd decisions this leadership continue to make.
AT&T will let the new Directv wilt away while trying to s*ck every last drop of profit that they can before selling what's left to dish in a couple of years.
All video employees will transition to new company at close date.
Stinky Stank taking the first step to rid himself of Directv.
JFC, just sell it and be done
they created a separate entity - they will get rid of the whole DTV as soo as they can..... what a waste of money. With assuming debt and acquisition price, AT&T almost paid $70B for DTV and now it is valued at $16B. Very sharp management and especially Stankey who was pushing for the acquisition of DTV. I know folks who worked on the acquisition and created PPT decks non-stop. They all got promoted after the acquisition.... clueless individuals. Some went from a Director-level position straight to becoming AVPs because of the quality of their PPT decks.... what a disaster. They came up with genius ideas like project Genie IP: install a satellite dish on every rooftop...... make $BBBBBBB - these folks are still with the company - that is the sad part of the story. AT&T rewards failure.
About time this boat anchor has been offloaded.
Slash and burn, more layoffs on the way.
Customers will continue to leave.
Randall and Stankey's legacy is now written in the books, one for the ages.
Bill Marrow is the CEO. What a swamp.