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.