AT&T Targets Full Otter Media Acquisition as Part of Its Buyout Spree

Telecom giant could take full control of digital video biz by the end of the summer, per Recode

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AT&T isn’t done looking for deals just yet — even after its mega-merger with Time Warner. The telecom giant is aiming to acquire all of Otter Media, according to a report from Recode on Wednesday.

AT&T — which co-owns the digital video company with The Chernin Group — would add several properties under its umbrella, including streaming service Crunchyroll and teen-focused network Fullscreen, with the deal. Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s digital media partnership with Otter Media, would also land at AT&T. The buyout is expected to close sometime this summer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Otter Media and AT&T did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

The deal has been an “open secret,” according to Recode, but has been stuck in M&A purgatory while AT&T worked through its $85.4 billion buyout of Time Warner. AT&T, together with Chernin, invested $500 million into Otter Media in 2014. Taking full control of Otter Media would add another content wing to AT&T’s expanding slew of assets — which could soon include a $1.6 billion buyout of ad tech company AppNexus.

“You should expect some smaller, not like Time Warner, but some smaller M&A in the coming weeks to demonstrate our commitment,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC last week.

Former DirecTV Senior Vice President Tony Goncalves joined Otter Media as its CEO earlier this year. The company said it pulls in 90 million unique visitors each month and had nearly 100 billion video views in 2017.

Read the full Recode report here.

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