AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery merger in April 2022

[ChristianJS]

Hi IG Team,

I would like to ask about the 3 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery that's in my account with average price of zero. I did some research and found that AT&T and Warner Bros. did a merger in April 2022 but I'm just confused as to why I now have 3 shares of Warner Bros. (with book cost of $0 and average price of $0). The 16 shares of AT&T is still in my account as before. 

[AndaIG]

Hi @ChristianJS

I believe the below screenshot were the terms of the event:

Therefore you should receive 0.241917 shares in WBD for each AT&T share that you own. You still continue to keep your AT&T holdings. Book cost and average price will be zero as you had not paid for the shares. 

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/11/the-warner-bros-discovery-deal-has-officially-closed/

All the best, 

Anda

 

[ChristianJS]

14 hours ago, AndaIG said:

Hi @ChristianJS

I believe the below screenshot were the terms of the event:

Therefore you should receive 0.241917 shares in WBD for each AT&T share that you own. You still continue to keep your AT&T holdings. Book cost and average price will be zero as you had not paid for the shares. 

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/11/the-warner-bros-discovery-deal-has-officially-closed/

All the best, 

Anda

 

Hi Anda,

Thank you for your response. It makes sense that I received 3 shares of WBD as I have 16 shares of AT&T (and still do) but what does the 3 shares of WBD mean as they have zero book cost/average price? Am I right in saying that the 3 shares of WBD in my account has no value since I didn't purchase them? In that case, how do I remove the 3 shares of WBD from my account (since I still have my AT&T shares)?

[ArvinIG]

3 hours ago, ChristianJS said:

Hi Anda,

Thank you for your response. It makes sense that I received 3 shares of WBD as I have 16 shares of AT&T (and still do) but what does the 3 shares of WBD mean as they have zero book cost/average price? Am I right in saying that the 3 shares of WBD in my account has no value since I didn't purchase them? In that case, how do I remove the 3 shares of WBD from my account (since I still have my AT&T shares)?

Hi @ChristianJS,

On the system the Corporate action team need to sell and buy stock at the price of 0 to go through. 

You will need to edit your book cost for the P/L to display correctly.

you can find the steps on how to edit your book cost here:
https://www.ig.com/au/help-and-support/investments/share-trading/how-do-i-edit-my-book-cost

I hope that it helps !

All the best - Arvin

[ChristianJS]

3 minutes ago, ArvinIG said:

Hi @ChristianJS,

On the system the Corporate action team need to sell and buy stock at the price of 0 to go through. 

You will need to edit your book cost for the P/L to display correctly.

you can find the steps on how to edit your book cost here:
https://www.ig.com/au/help-and-support/investments/share-trading/how-do-i-edit-my-book-cost

I hope that it helps !

All the best - Arvin

Hi Arvin, I followed the above steps and when I set the book cost to zero, it tells me to enter a valid book cost and it is not allowing me to save it.

[ArvinIG]

51 minutes ago, ChristianJS said:

Hi Arvin, I followed the above steps and when I set the book cost to zero, it tells me to enter a valid book cost and it is not allowing me to save it.

Hi @ChristianJS,

Apologies for the confusion, you will need to set the book cost to the price you initially paid the stock. If you initially paid USD 100 for the stocks for example, you will need to set the book cost at 100.

Thank you - Arvin

[ChristianJS]

Just now, ArvinIG said:

Hi @ChristianJS,

Apologies for the confusion, you will need to set the book cost to the price you initially paid the stock. If you initially paid USD 100 for the stocks for example, you will need to set the book cost at 100.

Thank you - Arvin

Hi Arvin, no worries. However, as mentioned in previous posts by Anda, I did not pay for the shares as they were 'received' due to the merger in April. So in that case, wouldn't the book cost be zero? But it is not letting me set this number when I try to edit it.

[AndaIG]

Hi @ChristianJS

Apologies for the confusion, 

Yes the book cost is correct to reflect as zero as you did not pay for them. However they do have a market value as they are currently trading on exchange. Thus when you do decide to sell them your profit will be 3 x market price at the time i.e. they are not worthless. Market price is $14.22 per share at the moment.  

Let me know if you have any further questions. 

All the best, 

Anda

[ChristianJS]

1 minute ago, AndaIG said:

Hi @ChristianJS

Apologies for the confusion, 

Yes the book cost is correct to reflect as zero as you did not pay for them. However they do have a market value as they are currently trading on exchange. Thus when you do decide to sell them your profit will be 3 x market price at the time i.e. they are not worthless. Market price is $14.22 at the moment.  

Let me know if you have any further questions. 

All the best, 

Anda

Thanks Anda,  just to clarify, I have 3 shares of WBD with zero book cost in my account (since I did not pay nor purchase them) - is this equivalent to saying I don't own any WBD shares? 

How could I get rid of the 3 WBD shares in my account since I didn't purchase them at all?

[AndaIG]

Hi @ChristianJS

You own the shares in WBD even though you did not pay for them. You received the shares as a benefit due to your holding in AT&T. If you would like to get rid of the shares you can simply sell them on the platform as you would with any other share. 

All the best, 

Anda

[ChristianJS]

1 minute ago, AndaIG said:

Hi @ChristianJS

You own the shares in WBD even though you did not pay for them. You received the shares as a benefit due to your holding in AT&T. If you would like to get rid of the shares you can simply sell them on the platform as you would with any other share. 

All the best, 

Anda

I see, so when the market opens I would be able to sell them even with zero book cost and for $0 profit/loss?

Thank you so much for your prompt response.

[AndaIG]

Hi @ChristianJS

Yes you can sell when the market opens. The market price is $14.22 per share at the moment. So around $42 profit if you manage to sell at that price. 

All the best, 

Anda