Business this week

In an astonishing turn, AT&T decided to spin off Warner Media, a film and television company it battled to acquire just three years ago, combining the business with Discovery, a broadcaster of factual programming. The combined company’s brands will include HBO, CNN and numerous Discovery channels. Together the pair spent more on content last year than their rivals and will have the biggest share of American cable viewers. AT&T has now shed all its media assets, leaving it to focus back on telecoms.