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AT&T (T) – Get the AT&T Inc. shares slumped in active trading ahead of the market on Thursday following reports suggesting the telecommunications giant is funding far-right media group One America News.
The shares are also trading “ex-dividend” ahead of the cash payment of 52 cents per share expected on November 1.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that AT&T was a “critical source” of funding for the upstart network, which received high praise from President Donald Trump, citing court records that show 90% of its revenue came from a platform. contract television, such as DirecTV, which is owned by AT&T.
Reuters also reported sworn testimony from a former OAN accountant, who said the value of the network “would be zero” without the deal with A&T, while founder and CEO Robert Herring testified in a lawsuit in 2109 that the idea to start the network came from a meeting with AT&T executives in 2013.
AT & T’s WarnerMedia division, which it plans to merge with Discovery (DISK) – Get the Class A report from Discovery, Inc. in a $ 43 billion deal to be reached next year, includes center-left news channel CNN.
OAN, whose website averages around 8 million viewers per month, has been accused of broadcasting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, COVID 19 and the January 6 Capitol riots.
AT&T spokesman Jim Greer told Reuters the group “has always sought to provide a wide variety of content and programming that may be of interest to customers, and not to dictate or control programming on channels we broadcast, “the company later adding that it” never had a financial stake in OAN’s success and does not “fund” OAN. “
AT&T shares were down 1.5% in pre-market trading Thursday to indicate an opening bell price of $ 26.90 each.
AT&T increased its full-year revenue forecast in July after posting higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings of 89 cents per share on revenue of $ 44 billion.
AT&T said it has added 2.8 million US subscribers to its HBO Max streaming service, and expects its global base to reach between 70 million and 73 million by the end of the year, as ‘he continues to challenge his biggest rival Netflix NFLX for new additions.
Turning to the second half of the year, AT&T said it expects its consolidated revenue to grow 2% to 3% from 2020, up from its previous forecast of 1%, with adjusted profit up. in the “low to medium numbers”.
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