AT&T takes $15.5 billion charge on DirecTV, adds more phone customers

AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it wrote down its premium TV business, which includes satellite television unit DirecTV, by $15.5 billion, reflecting the impact of years of cord-cutting in the industry as viewers move to cheaper online streaming services.
 

The fourth-quarter writedown comes as sources have told Reuters AT&T has entered into exclusive talks to sell a minority stake in DirecTV to private equity firm TPG in a deal seen valuing the division at above $15 billion.
 

AT&T purchased DirecTV for $68 billion including debt in 2015.
 

The writedowns taken by AT&T, which further included $780 million from its WarnerMedia