AT&T to sell DirecTV holding to TPG for US$7.6 billion

AT&T has agreed to sell its majority stake in DirecTV to private equity firm TPG for US$7.6 billion in cash. 

The payments include US$1.7 billion in pre-tax quarterly distributions in the second half of this year and US$5.4 billion in after-tax distributions in 2025, AT&T said in a filing on Monday (Sep 30). Final payments of US$500 million will be made in 2029. 

AT&T is selling its stake in DirecTV as the satellite television company is holding its own advanced talks to merge with rival Dish in a deal that would create the largest US pay-TV provider. DirecTV is in talks to control the combined entity, which will be closely held and serve almost 20 million subscribers, Bloomberg reported last week, citing people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

AT&T and TPG are joint owners of DirecTV, which was founded in 1994 by Hughes Electronics and has about 11 million customers. Dish, started in 1980 by billionaire Charlie Ergen, is part of his EchoStar Corp and has about eight million subscribers. BLOOMBERG