• After the USD 85 billion Warner merger was approved, it has become relatively quiet around AT&T.
• But then it became public that the hedge fund Elliott acquired a USD 3.2 billion stake in AT&T.
• Investors are now wondering what to do but I think that this is the wrong approach.
• Rather, investors should ask themselves why they should do anything at all because nothing has changed at all from a fundamental point of view. AT&T was already on a good path.
• Given that, I think that the discussion initiated by Elliott is completely superfluous and tiresome.

Introduction

After the USD 85 billion Warner merger was approved, it has become relatively quiet around AT&T (T). The investors' focus was mainly on how well the new entity would work and to what extent AT&T would come down from the debt mountain. But then it became public that the hedge fund Elliott acquired a USD 3.2 billion stake in AT&T. Furthermore, Elliott published a public letter.

(Source: Paul Elliott Singer's hedge fund acquired a USD 3.2 billion stake in AT&T and published a public letter)

Activist investors are always on the lookout for supposedly undervalued companies and try to influence management. Although I don't think it's a bad thing in general, here, the whole thing is a bit bizarre because Elliott's demands contain nothing new, but only familiar. In this article I will briefly introduce the demands of Elliott and then explain why I find the entry quite tiring.

The Elliott letter - A sequence of known facts and keywords

The main content of the letter consists of the following points:

(Source: Key points of the Elliott letter)

To be honest, the letter contains nothing new at all. Any investor who regularly reads Seeking Alpha articles will have been able to summarize the sentiment of AT&T with all the pros and cons of arguments. The fact that AT&T has been underperforming the S&P 500 for years is formally cried out to one as a long term investor in the comments. Equally unsurprising for investors is the value of the portfolio. Elliott reiterates that AT&T ranks first or second in the wireless, TV, wireline and media sectors. With this potential in mind, Elliott comes to the following groundbreaking conclusion:

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