Mike Wuerthele
The boards of directors for carriers Sprint and T-Mobile have approved a $26 billion deal to merge the two companies, with John Legere at the head of the combined company.
The deal is the pair's third attempt to merge in as many years. If approved, Sprint, which has a market value of $26 billion, will merge with T-Mobile, which is worth around $55 billion. The pair have $60 billion of combined debt. The transaction values Sprint at 0.10256 shares per T-Mobile share.
I'm excited to announce that @TMobile & @Sprint
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 29, 2018
have reached an agreement to come together to form a new company - a larger, stronger competitor that will be a force for positive change for all US consumers and businesses! Watch this & click through for details.
T-Mobile and Sprint are the nation's third- and fourth-largest wireless providers respectively. Combined, the two will have 127 million customers.
SoftBank owns 85 percent of Sprint. Deutsche Telekom owns about 60 percent of T-Mobile, and it will consolidate the combined entity's earnings.
Verizon has more than 150 million wireless customers. AT&T reported 144 million subscribers at the end of the last quarter.
The deal is not guaranteed to succeed. The U.S. government still has to approve the deal, with international agencies likely to weigh in as well. But, even if the deal falls through because of regulatory concerns, Sprint consumers will be allowed to use T-Mobile's network.
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32 Comments
It'll be interesting to see how Team Telecom and CFIUS will rule on this. It won't be a cakewalk. I think that the shareholding structure of the merged entity may have to change drastically, with the combined ownership share of SB + DT forced to be less than 50%.
Verizon: Make me an offer and I’m gone.
How can a Sprint (CDMA) customer use T-Mobile’s (GSM) network?