The US telecoms giant is planning to sell “a substantial stake” in its whole video operation — DirecTV, AT&T TV Now and U-Verse — to a US private equity operation, say the reports.
AT&T paid $49 billion for satellite business DirecTV alone in 2015. But the reports say that AT&T TV Now and U-Verse are being packaged into the business.
The company reported to be buying the stake is TPG, the US private equity investor, not the Australian telecoms company of the same name.
TPG is an investment firm based in California and Texas, with $85 billion in assets under management, according to its website. Investments include Airbnb, Spotify, Surveymonkey, Uber and Univision.
AT&T is selling because customers are moving to streaming video rather than subscribing to satellite or fibre-delivered TV packages. DirecTV and U-verse have lost three million customers between them over the past year. AT&T has debts totalling $150 billion.
AT&T and TPG have not commented on the reports since they appeared, which said the video business might be valued at $15 billion, way less than AT&T paid for DirecTV six years ago. There is no indication of the size of the stake TPG might acquire.
The telco has been focusing on its own streaming services, HBO and HBO Max, which now have 38 million customers.
