AT&T is reportedly close to finalizing a deal with a private equity firm to buy a minority stake in its satellite TV business, according to a report from CNBC. The deal would include DirecTV, AT&T TV Now, and U-Verse.
A source for CNBC says that the deal with TPG could be announced as soon as this week and would value the businesses at around $15 billion, a drop from the $49 billion AT&T paid for DirecTV in 2015.
AT&T would use the sale to help pay down its $150 billion debt.
News of the “significant minority stake” has been circulating since November when AT&T was looking at multiple investors, which reportedly included Apollo Global Management and Churchill Capital Corporation. Prior to that news, we learned that AT&T had been receiving “lowball” offers of under $20 billion.
AT&T lost another 617,000 premium TV customers in Q4. That number includes DirecTV, U-Verse, and AT&T TV subscribers.