Way back in October 2016, Time Warner, the parent company of Warner Bros. and DC, agreed to be purchased by AT&T for $85.4 billion. When huge companies like this merge, the government gets involved, and after a lengthy legal process a federal judge has approved the purchase today.
“We are pleased that, after conducting a full and fair trial on the merits, the Court has categorically rejected the government’s lawsuit to block our merger with Time Warner,” AT&T General Counsel David McAtee said in a statement. “We look forward to closing the merger on or before June 20 so we can begin to give consumers video entertainment that is more affordable, mobile, and innovative.”
Most of you probably want to know what this means for the DCEU. It’s way too early to tell, but expect top executives at Warner Bros. and DC to leave the company. AT&T will bring in new people, and we’ll have to wait and see if the change in leadership is good or bad for us, the consumers. They could like what Walter Hamada, the newly appointed head of the DCEU, has planned and will just leave him alone. But it’s also possible that AT&T has their own ideas for how the DC movie business should be run.
Many executives have already left Warner Bros. and DC this year, perhaps in relation to this deal, with the most recent being DC president Diane Nelson and DC president and CCO Geoff Johns.
SOURCE: CNBC
