Time Warner shares fall on concern Trump will block AT&T deal

By Malathi Nayak and Aishwarya Venugopal

(Reuters) - Shares of media group Time Warner Inc fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday on concerns that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will make good on his vow to block a proposed $85 billion acquisition by telecommunications giant AT&T Inc.

AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said on Wednesday his company was looking forward to working with Trump and "optimistic" that regulators would approve the deal. Stephens spoke at the Wells Fargo technology, media and telecoms conference in New York.

Trump had said AT&T's proposal to buy the owner of CNN and the Warner Bros movie studio was an example of a "power structure" that was rigged against him and voters.

"It's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," Trump said during a rally on Oct. 22.

AT&T's shares were down 1.4 percent at $36.52, while Time Warner fell $1.80 at $85.87.

The Dow and S&P 500 were both higher in early trading.

AT&T offered $107.50 per share for Time Warner last month, aiming to acquire content to attract a growing number of online customers.

AT&T said the U.S. Department of Justice will review the deal, which is likely to face intense scrutiny since lawmakers are already concerned about cable company Comcast Corp's $30 billion acquisition of NBCUniversal.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak in Washington and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)