AT&T and DOJ are at odds over whether a group of antitrust scholars should take part in Dec. 6 oral argument on AT&T's buy of Time Warner at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In a docket 18-5214 opposition (in Pacer) posted Monday, AT&T said the amici didn't review and analyze trial evidence and ignore or mischaracterize the lower court's decision. It said their positions align with DOJ's and will be reflected in what the government argues. Calling the 27 "a renowned and diverse group," Justice said (in Pacer) it had no opposition to them being allocated five minutes of new time or receiving five minutes of the agency's 20. The academics, in a motion (in Pacer) to participate as amici curiae Friday, asked for 10 minutes of new time. They said part could be used to answer questions the court might have about issues presented, including how Nash bargaining models should apply to vertical mergers in oligopoly markets and what weight to give to testimony about parties having considered economic benefits to other corporate affiliates in evaluating bargaining outcomes. They include American University research law professor Jonathan Baker, Rutgers Law School professor Michael Carrier, University of Pennsylvania professor Joseph Harrington, and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz, who won the 2001 Nobel in economics.

GameStop entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Spring Mobile business, which owns and operates 1,289 AT&T wireless stores, to Prime Communications for $700 million, excluding transaction fees and subject to working capital and debt adjustments, it said Wednesday. The sale is part of GameStop’s strategy to refocus on its core video game and collectibles businesses. Proceeds may be used to reduce the company’s outstanding debt, fund share repurchases or reinvest in core businesses, it said. The deal is expected to close in Q4 FY 2018.

Some investors are cautious on CommScope's $7.4 billion plan to buy Arris, an analyst found. Worries include debt that CommScope will take on, which executives have said shouldn't be a problem (see 1811080051), wrote Simon Leopold of Raymond James Wednesday. "The deal seemed to lack strategic rationale and was more about buying cash flow." In the minds of investors and the companies, Leopold told us, "the common strategic theme is broadband and traffic growth." Owners of CommScope securities "perceive the deal negatively because they think of ARRIS as just" a set-top box maker, Leopold wrote "It is not. About 40% of sales come from STBs, the products contribute a single-digit percent of profits. We see opportunities from the evolution of cable TV networks." The combining companies declined to comment.

SiriusXM remains on track to close its acquisition of Pandora in Q1, wrote Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter to investors, after the company’s Q3 earnings report last week. Pachter had seen possible rejection by Pandora shareholders of Sirius’ offer to buy the remaining shares of Pandora it doesn’t own for $3.5 billion (see 1811060015), but called the value “fair” Tuesday. The analyst still sees Pandora “struggling to grow Active Listeners and lay out a path to sustainable profitability.” The Q3 results were “better than expected” but listener hours fell below analysts’ expectations, he said.

Meredith is selling another magazine and brand it got when it bought Time Inc. Jan. 31 in a $1.4 billion deal. The broadcaster said Friday it agreed to sell Fortune for $150 million cash to Fortune Media Group, owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon, and expects it to close this year. Meredith completed the sale Oct. 31 of Time magazine to Marc and Lynne Benioff for $190 million (see 1811010022). The TV-station operator might get another $100 million when it sells Sports Illustrated, Citigroup analyst David Phipps wrote investors Friday.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judges Judith Rogers, David Sentelle and Robert Wilkins comprise the panel overseeing DOJ's appeal of the District Court approval of AT&T's buy of Time Warner, said a docket 18-5214 Pacer update. Oral argument is Dec. 6 (see 1810170062).

Broadcom completed its takeover of CA Technologies, the buyer announced Monday. The deal was worth almost $19 billion and got antitrust clearance (see 1810150043). Citing the importance of mainframes to large enterprises and the computers processing 30 billion transactions daily and $7 trillion of credit card payments annually, it said it's a "stable market opportunity."

AMC Networks closed on its $59 million buy of the portion of RLJ Entertainment not owned by founder Robert Johnson and announced in July (see 1807300047) following approval by ELJ shareholders, it said Thursday. AMC said the deal adds to its direct-to-consumer and subscription VOD strategy.

IBM agreed to buy Red Hat in a $34 billion deal. "It changes everything about the cloud market," said IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, saying her company will become the biggest hybrid cloud provider and looking toward a future where companies move business applications there, not just rent cloud computing. Citing concerns about debt IBM will likely take on, Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating a notch and said further downgrade is possible. Monday, the first day of regular trading after the deal, Red Hat stock rose to less than the $190 per share cash price. Red Hat didn't comment. The stock closed 45 percent higher Monday at $169.63, an 11 percent discount to the takeover price.

AT&T and DOJ repeated their well-trod arguments in dueling final briefs filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see here and here, in Pacer, docket 18-5214) in DOJ's challenge of AT&T buying Time Warner. The briefs only added page numbers, otherwise, they were the same. AT&T said DOJ wrongly paints a caricature of the U.S. District Court decision allowing the deal when the lower court "well understood" the economics underlying Justice's hypothetical bargaining theory. The department said the appeal "will shape the future of the media and telecommunications industries for decades to come," setting the standard for determining whether to allow vertical combinations that end up controlling valuable programming content and distribution routes. The FCC, the American Cable Association and an array of antitrust scholars -- all of which previously filed amicus briefs (see 1808140001) -- recapped their arguments in final amicus briefs (see here, here and here).