Jeffrey Bewkes on regulatory strategy
From Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO, AT&T With Jeff Bewkes, Chairman & CEO, Time Warner. · · Achiu Gip
“This transaction is not horizontal, we don't compete. In fact, it's vertical. Jeff is a supplier to AT&T, his content is part of our package. Vertical integrations have a very standard review in the regulatory process, and there's not a competitor being taken out, and in fact you're hard-pressed to find in either one of our industries a time when a vertical integration was shot down by regulators.”
On , Jeffrey Bewkes, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at TIME WARNER INC, spoke about regulatory strategy during Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO, AT&T With Jeff Bewkes, Chairman & CEO, Time Warner. on Achiu Gip.
About Jeffrey Bewkes
In October 2016, Jeffrey Bewkes, then Chairman and CEO of Time Warner, appeared alongside AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson to discuss the proposed merger of their companies. Bewkes described the deal as "joining" rather than selling, stating that AT&T was Time Warner's biggest customer and partner. He argued that the combination would allow the companies to "move faster with more innovation, better consumer offerings at different price points, [and] more effective advertising." Speaking at the WSJDLive conference on October 25, 2016, Bewkes explained that the deal was driven by the evolution of digital television and distribution platforms. He said that the distribution industry needed to become "more capable" in delivering benefits like seamless access across devices, better curation, and targeted advertising. Bewkes noted that while not every media company needed to be co-owned with a distributor, the changes in the ecosystem made the merger advantageous for Time Warner, and he expressed hope that it would encourage other distribution platforms to innovate.