Is AT&T owned by Comcast?
Though they are not connected, AT&T and Comcast are among the two greatest telecommunication behemoths in the United States. Comcast neither owns AT&T nor vice versa.
AT&T's History and Overview
Alexander Graham Bell started the Bell Telephone Company in 1877, hence the company has been in operation for some years. Using mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs, AT&T Internet has evolved into a huge multimedia telecommunications company providing mobile and landline phone services, broadband Internet, digital television, and much more to tens of millions of customers scattered around the United States.
Some key events in AT&T's long corporate history.
- 1885: American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) was established to construct and manage the initial long-distance telephone service
- 1984: divestiture of Bell system into seven regional phone companies (“Baby Bells”) and a new AT&T for providing long-distance service, research, and manufacturing.
- 2005: New company SBC Communications acquires the original AT&T and decides to rename itself AT&T Inc.
- 2015: Buys satellite television company DirecTV
- 2018: Buys Time Warner, a media conglomerate, shifting attention towards content and advertising.
Now among the biggest worldwide communication internet service providers, second biggest telecommunication business in terms of mobile phone services, and biggest in fixed phone services in the United States of America, AT&T is For the Financial Year ending 2021, AT&T's annual sales came at approximately $168 billion.
Comcast's History and Overview
Comcast has a relatively less complex corporate background than the confusing past of Ma Bell. Originally established in 1963, Comcast began as a single-system cable operator and gradually expanded it become the largest cable TV provider in the United States through technology upgrades and selective acquisitions of other small cable operators.
Some key events in Comcast's history since incorporation.
- 1969: Establishes the first cable system in Tupelo, Mississippi with approximately 12,000 subscriptions.
- 2002: Acquires AT&T Broadband to become the largest cable operator in the country overnight
- 2011: Buys NBCUniversal, takes over film studio and broadcast television division
- 2016: Begins deployment of Xfinity residential wireless phone and internet.
- 2021: SoftBank agrees to sell its stake in Hulu to Comcast which gives Comcast full control.
Originally founded in Philadelphia, Comcast today offers cable television, broadband internet, telephone, and home security services to more than 31 million customers in the United States; for the fiscal year 2021, Comcast generated a total revenue of approximately $115.7 billion.
So in conclusion – even though AT&T and Comcast are direct competitors offering telecom and media services across the country and have some customers in common – they are two different companies. Neither is a subsidiary of the other or has a controlling stake in the other. While the core phone business of AT&T was inherited from the historic Bell system monopoly, Comcast’s cable business expanded nationwide mostly through acquisitions of smaller regional cable operators.
Speculation on Potential Merger
While at present there are no links of corporate ownership that tie AT&T and Comcast, the fact that their respective main business activities are highly synergistic with each other means Wall Street speculates from time to time about an AT&T/Comcast ‘megamerger’.
AT&T is mainly a wireless and internet company now – while Comcast is more of a fixed broadband residential cable provider. The synergy could provide mobile, home internet, TV, and content services in value-added bundles that consumers could not easily refuse. It would also provide the entity with unparalleled economies of scale when combined subscriber numbers are considered.
But this is where political and regulatory challenges to the approval of such a huge merger of two giants in the communications industry would be hard to overcome. Both companies today appear more interested in milking current business operations and encouraging organic growth than venturing on another dangerous mega-acquisition.
Therefore, the competition between AT&T and Comcast for America’s home connectivity market remains a long shot in the near term of one acquiring the other or merging with it. While both companies are significant national players making them direct competitive threats, legally and organizationally the corporate behemoths of Ma Bell and Comcast are distinct.
The telecom landscape can be dynamic, but as of now, statements that “AT&T is owned by Comcast” hold no water. They have no direct or indirect shareholding relationship and they do not appear to be planning to integrate their core operations shortly.
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