DirecTV’s chief program dealmaker, Dan York, won’t need any introductions at AT&T should the telecom giant’s expected $50 billion acquisition of the satellite operator close this month.
York spent nearly eight years running AT&T’s TV business, U-Verse, before joining DirecTV in May 2012.
While the the deal was tipped publicly just a week ago, AT&T could close its purchase of DirecTV in as little as 11 days, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The deal would require regulatory approval.
Separately, Bloomberg reported that current DirecTV CEO Michael White would step down in 2015.
DirecTV management would continue to operate as a unit of AT&T, Bloomberg reported.
York grew AT&T’s TV business from zero to $10 billion in annual revenue, according to his biography.
The service is now in 5.7 million homes and has $14 billion in revenue. DirecTV is in 20.3 million US households.
AT&T is said to be offering $100 per share, a 29 percent premium to DirecTV’s market price before news of AT&T’s interest in it surfaced.
One rationale for the deal is that AT&T could free up bandwidth being used by its own TV service and use it for mobile services.
Federal regulators may have their hands full as they are also mulling the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Spokemen for AT&T and DirecTV declined to comment on the two reports.