AT&T to Buy Time Warner in $85.4 Billion Deal

Barry C. Lynn was quoted in the Financial Times about AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner:

Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, told an audience in Gettysburg that he would block the deal if elected. The acquisition would give AT&T “too much concentration of power”, he said. 

Hillary Clinton this month promised to "strengthen anti-trust enforcement and really scrutinise mergers and acquisitions, so the big don’t keep getting bigger and bigger”, she told a crowd in Toledo, Ohio.

The Democratic nominee is taking a page from senator Elizabeth Warren who warned this summer that “competition is dying”. With increasing concentration in industries such as banking, airlines and health insurance, workers and would-be entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage, leading Democrats argue.

With Mr Trump already opposing the AT&T deal, Mrs Clinton will be under pressure to issue a statement soon, said Barry Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. “It could blow apart really quickly,” he said of the proposed merger. “If Hillary comes out against it, and Trump’s against it, if I were AT&T, I’d drop it.”