Making sense of AT&T's bid for Time-Warner [telecom]

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The proposed $85 billion merger faces tough regulatory scrutiny, but the potential to challenge cable companies may make a compelling case.

By Andrew Ross Sorkin

"You had a lot of people saying you should've combined a donkey with a rabbit and gotten a flying unicorn."

That was how Jeffrey Bewkes, the chief executive of Time Warner, once described his company's colossal failure of a merger with AOL. He spent the last decade dismantling much of his company in the name of "focus," spinning off his cable business and magazine empire.