Mario Gabelli talks AT&T-Time Warner and more media consolidation
AT&T and Time Warner are in court battling the government to get their $85 billion deal approved. Mario Gabelli, a longtime investor in media stocks, was asked whether he thinks the deal will win approval.
“I have [an] 80% probability that it goes through. The stock is $95. I think you got $10 down because the arms will sell it off but – and you’re only making $10 up. So, the expected probability is the stock is fairly priced given the dynamics,” Gabelli, the founder and CEO of GAMCO Investors, said during an interview on “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street.”
He also is bullish on Disney’s plans to pay $52.4 billion for the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of FOX Business and Fox News.
“I think the Disney-Fox deal goes through,” Gabelli said.
He is also keeping an eye on two other media companies for a potential tie-up.
“I think Viacom and CBS are a natural. I think they’ll put that together. There’s going to be $20 billion of debt, but they’re going to have about $8 billion of EBITDA and more importantly they will have only about $300 million or $400 million of [capital expenditures]. So [a] huge cash generator,” Gabelli said.