From the get-go, analysts were saying that the Trump administration’s case against the AT&T/Time Warner merger was quite unusual. The government usually tries to block horizontal mergers, but not this time. The Justice Dept.’s attempt to block this particular merger was, of course, driven by Donald Trump‘s antagonistic attitude toward CNN. “AT&T owns the pipes and the wires, Time Warner owns the content,” etc. The merger will enable the two giants to “enhance each other,” as the argument does. And now Trump has lost. The deal has been approved without conditions.
