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12 June 2018 By Jennifer Saba, Gina Chon Follow @jennifersaba

A judge cleared the telco’s $85 bln Time Warner purchase in a clean ruling against U.S. regulators who tried to block it. That’s a victory for CEO Randall Stephenson, but it could come with a winner’s curse. AT&T is new to the media business and has barely any room to cut costs.

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Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on June 12 in favor of AT&T in its bid to buy Time Warner. The approval had no conditions and Leon urged the U.S. government, which had sued to block the deal, not to seek a stay of the ruling, according to Reuters.

On Nov. 20, 2017, the Department of Justice sued AT&T to block the proposed $85 billion merger. AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner, the owner of HBO, the Warner Bros studio and news network CNN, on Oct. 22, 2016.

Makan Delrahim, head of the antitrust division at the DOJ, said in a statement that he was disappointed with the ruling and would consider next steps.

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