DirecTV Shares Up On Report That A Deal With AT&T Is Near

The No. 1 satellite company is +6.3% in post market trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that DirecTV and AT&T are “moving quickly” and could make an announcement within two weeks. The paper says AT&T may offer cash and stock that values DirecTV at $50B, a 12.4% premium over its $44.5B market value based on today’s closing price. If DirecTV’s after hours trading price of about $92.65 a share holds, then it would set a new record high for the stock, which is up 13.8% since the end of April when reports of the talks with AT&T surfaced. Last week DirecTV CEO Michael White sought to besmirch the accurate reports about the talks with AT&T as little more than “media rumors and speculation.” He added that the reports “are not based on official sources of information” but did not contradict them.