Revenue of AT&T by segment 2017-2019, by quarter

In the fourth quarter of 2019, AT&T generated 36.5 billion U.S. dollars from its communications business segment. This segment makes up almost 80 percent of the company’s revenue today. The entertainment and media segment, WarnerMedia, is the company’s second largest segment, which is the result of a merger between Time Warner and AT&T in mid 2018.

Shift in AT&T’s strategy and segmentation

AT&T acquired Time Warner, the media and entertainment conglomerate, for 85 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. As a result, a shift can be seen in the company’s overall business strategy. Through this vertical merger, AT&T is now additionally focused on Direct to Consumer Distribution (D2C).

The merger has led to changes in the company’s segmentation breakdowns, as well. Currently, the segments are communications, WarnerMedia, Latin America, and Xandr. The communications segment includes wireless and wireline telecom, video and broadband services, while WarnerMedia is comprised of media and entertainment businesses, such as Warner Bros. and Turner. The Latin America segment offers entertainment services in Latin America and wireless telecom services in Mexico and finally, the Xandr segment collects data for the development of digital advertising.

AT&T’s core business

Providing telecommunication services (especially wireless) is still AT&T’s core business. The company is one of the four major players in the telecommunications market in the United States, the top competitor being Verizon. In 2018, AT&T earned about 170 billion U.S. dollars, a revenue significantly higher than that of Verizon, T-Mobile US or Sprint. In terms of subscriber count, Verizon has been in the lead for the last five years, with AT&T coming in as a close second.