The merger between AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) is known to most of us. However what most of us don’t know is that there was another serious bidder before AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) grabbed the deal.
CNBC’s David Faber reported more on it and he also mentioned the name of the company that was a serious contender until recently. He was referring to the disclosure of DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) where the company also mentioned about another company cited as “Company A” and according to Faber, that company is DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH). He also said that Charlie Ergen, Chairman of DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), and Michael White, Chairman and CEO of DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) discussed briefly and tried to explore the idea of linking both companies together at a later stage.
“Confirming what many of us already knew, which is at the very least Charlie Ergen, the Chairman of DISH and Mike White who runs Directv had atleast had some brief conversations and in fact even as far as to sign confidentiality agreements to consider exploring the idea of linking the two companies.”
If DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) and DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) would have been merged, it would have actually brought in a lot of regulatory issues. A lot of people say that the regulatory authorities would have never approved the deal between DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) and DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) anyway. The timeline of the talks in between these two companies takes us to December 2013 and then in April they seemed to have signed confidentiality agreements and then when AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) came into picture, DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) ended talks with DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV).
“They don’t tell you it’s Dish, but I am telling you it’s Dish,” Faber stated referring to the disclosure of DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV)
Now that AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) have made their decisions on merger and it’s just subjected to regulatory approvals, it would be interesting to see what DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) and Ergen would do.
Disclosure: None
