near the 52-week low and this comes as the government challenges at&t's acquisition of time warner randall stephenson had this to say about the appeal on our network earlier today. >> we think the likelihood of this thing being reversed and overturned ask is very remote. to get this thing reversed in any way. the merger is closed we own time warner >> and the options market seemed to agree with that assessment and calls outpaced puts two to one in the series of paces that garnered the amount of attention. >> the calls expire next week and 19,000 of them traded hands. what do you think, guys? the worst for tee? >> i don't think the worst is over for tee it is down 1.75% and it was traded lower when they're trying to break up this deal. so what is the catalyst to get it higher? you don't really have any earnings growth. you have a lousy balance sheet and greg moffity talks about that all of the time and you have the directv deal years ago that doesn't seem to be paying any real dividend so they seem to be in no-man's-land here. if i were at&t, i would think about if you're changing your business, maybe

warner. at&t ceo randall stephenson will join us at 8:15 a.m.tern >>> and a missouri jury ordering johnson & johnson to pay a record $4.7 billion over allegations that its baby powder causes cancer. the company's lead attorney will join us at 8:30 a.m. in a cnbc exclusive. i know it sounds like baby powder but, honestly, 20 years ago, i started reading about things like that. you can get baby powder that has talc and baby powder that has cornstarch i like baby powder but i made sure that i haven't used any talc in 20 years and here's why we will have the lead attorney on a lot of ways you can disrupt the normal genetic structure and it could be radiation and carcinogens and also the way something is shaped. and i'm not conflating baby powder with asbestos but we know it was the shape of that molecule goes into the double helix and disrupts the normal shape. and there are some people who thought talc had that characteristic it seems like you should be able to do some very strictry controlled studies to see if this actually happens. i don't know i

warner. is ceo randall stephenson worried? >> we think the likelihood of this being reversed and overturned is really remote. >> we'll hear much more from stephenson coming up, and we'll also hear from the head of an iconic british brand of what business leaders in the uk think of president trump you always pay your insurance on time. tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what good is your insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> i'll be right with you the government once again challenging at&t's acquisition of time warner, announcing that it's going to appeal that ruling that allowed the deal to go through. at&t ceo randall stephenson spoke earlier today with our julia boorstin in sun valley, idaho. >> reporter: randall stephenso

warner. at&t ceo randall stephenson reacted to the news.s what he told fox business network senior correspondent charlie gasparino last night. let's listen. >> we've broke it yesterday that they were thinking of doing this, meaning they will try to break up the company and the breakup of merger. what's your thoughts? >> i don't think people are surprised by filed an appeal to the loser has an opportunity, right to appeal. that's what they've chosen to do. the judge wrote a very thoughtful, reasoned, thorough order and so we feel good about the appeal. no surprise. >> if you're a shareholder, how should you feel about this? it's technically two different companies anyways. the merger as it is. >> the merger is closed. we're executing right now. >> would you take this to the supreme court if that's where it goes? >> of course, but we don't anticipate that. >> there's a lot or consumer left-leaning judges. could you have a difficult time there? >> no, we don't angst filled. it is based on a long and we've been to the court wants and we've got

warner media. take a listen to ceo randall stephenson >> we've now assembled the key elements of a modern media company it all begins with owning a wide array of premium content because we are absolutely convinced that there is nothing that drives customer engagement like high-quality premium content and whether it's netflix, amazon, google, disney or comcast, everybody is now pursuing the same thing. in an unusual move, stephenson was joined by all of the division heads including john thanky he said they want to invest in more original premium content for hbo. stephenson and stanky talked about how they can have global capability ands how those different investments will enable them to have a valuable, direct relationship with consumers. >> you take these three elements, premium content, 170 million direct to consumer relationships and great ad technology and then combine those with the high-speed networks and we think all of this is a game changer bringing these four elements together has changed the way we think about the value proposition. we spend our time now thinking how to combine these element

session the department of justice challenging the ruling on the at&t-time warner merger and tomorrow, at&t's ceo randall stephensonill be on cnbc at 8:15 a.m. eastern time you will not want to miss that news-making interview. time for the time trade. tim seymour. >> this has me fired up on twitter and both flag formation. >> chairwoman? >> want to go home with the one who brought me to the dance, jamie dimon. he didn't bring me to the dance. >> yes, he did >> exactly long j.p. morgan >> p.k. >> if jamie does right tomorrow we'll get good earnings and the regional banks will be great, k, r e. >> he would be lucky to take you to the dance. >> very lucky. >> he's not thrilled to hear this from number two, but if cbs sells off on the back of all of this noise and all of this craziness, i believe that cbs is a buy. >> i'm melissa lee, see you back here at 5 for more "fast money." don't go anywhere " mad money" with jim cramer starts right now. welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica other people want to make friends. i'm just trying to make you some money. my job isn't just to entertain but to educate and teach yo

warner. i thought it was already done. anyway, we'll see. we'll talk to at&t ceo randall stephenson earning season has arrived we'll kick off things in about 45 minutes with the second quarter report followed by citigroup and wells fargo. so, don't make any plans this morning. seriously. it's friday 13th "squawk box" begins right now. >>> live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box. >>> good morning, welcome to "squawk box" we're live in times square i'm melissa lee becky and andrew are off today our guest host for the hour cnbc guy. >> i'm here. >> i know you are. i want to cast dispersions. >> who is on at 7:00 >> and then joe teranova >> what is that telling you, joe? >> i'm just

company raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance on the call randall stephenson put emphases on at&t's content now that it owns time warner> we now assembled the key elements of a modern media company. it begins with owning a wide array of premium content we are absolutely convinced that there's nothing that drives customer engagement like high quality premium content. whether it's netflix, amazon, google, disney, comcast, everybody is pursuing the same thing. >> joining us is john hudlick from ubs he just lowered his price target from $37 to $33. good morning >> thanks for having me. >> what happened >> i would say that the quarter was largely as expected, but showed accelerating revenue declines, ebita was down 6%, just for the communications business earnings were light. the time warner business was solid. but, you know, as we lock ahead we're looking at more spending on content, higher integration expenses, and we thought staying on the sidelines makes sense >> when you math out the additional expense of the investment that needs to be made on the time -- in the time warner business to turn this company into this sort

warner creating a monopoly. that's the stuff we're hearing here. just about all the ceos are here. our ceo rupert murdoch. randall stephenson i believe will get here tomorrow. brian roberts, the ceo of comcast is here, bob iger, the ceo of disney, here's one thing that is interesting, charles, if government shows opposition to at&t-time warner which is a conglomerate like comcast looking to buy us, there is a lot of thinking like okay, d.o.j. might oppose comcast's bid for us if they should go there. people think that bid is imminent even after today's sky bid that brian roberts might come after the entertainment assets slated to be sold to disney. this is an interesting, complicated situation. the scuttlebutt of this place, they're all here, i'll keep reporting until they throw me out, charles. charles: i remember the last time. be safe, my man. >> by the way that guy is still here, and he's talking about me. [laughter] >> brian coughlin is his name. charles: we'll keep tabs on you. highest retail gas prices in years concerning people. some think could this be the biggest threat to the u.s. economic growth. we've got jeff

warner in the numbers. i'm sure we'll get a break out of at&t on a stand alone basis too. this is really the first time for randall stephensonrategic vision. now that they've closed that transaction, i think that's what investors are going to be looking to hear. more about what they plan to do with the time warner assets. what can they do with hbo from my perspective to dove tail with over the top investments they've made in directv now. and of course he's been a big advocate with the digital advertising. >> when you touched on hbo there, one of the big question marks is how much money at&t plans to invest in that business whether it comes to content. i think hbo right now has about $2 billion what number do you want to hear? >> i think there's an opportunity to enhance that. i don't expect them to go to $8 billion. for netflix, that's the pl number the actual number is probably closer to $13 billion. as they've proven over time, they've been able to deliver great content. could that number go to $3 billion, $4 billion, that's probably more in the neighborhood of what i'd look for to further enhance that and still be, you kn