Seeking Alpha Author Ariel Aharonovich joins Cheddar to discuss the state of the AT&T / Time Warner merger. He says that, merger or not, both companies will be fine. The market is for some reason focusing solely on the deal and forgetting that each company is a worthwhile investment on their own merits. He's put a buy rating on Time Warner because he says a deal is immediately positive for shareholders, whereas AT&T shareholders would need to wait a little longer for the payout. For AT&T he says a deal is a net positive and, no-deal is a net negative. Even if the deal goes through, it will add a lot of new-net debt (debt minus cash) to the balance sheet and with rising rates, financing costs will become an issue. As for the future of this merger, he says it's turned from an economic issue to a political one. No doubt President Trump doesn't want the merger to go through because of his views on CNN, but people can't be clouded by this factor when deciding whether or not to invest.