“It’s So Transparently Ridiculous”: Wall Street Groans as Its M&A Future Hangs on Trump’s Sham AT&T Trial

At stake is not only AT&T’s still-pending $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner but also, as many on Wall Street see it, the future of the M&A business itself. This is serious, since there is no higher margin business in finance. “The concept that AT&T is going to use its distribution to, in any way, favor its own content, which itself needs to be on every other distribution channel, is preposterous,” says one veteran M&A banker.