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Sprint, T-Mobile Agree To Combine in a $26.5 Billion Merger (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the third-time's-the-charm dept.

T-Mobile and Sprint said on Sunday that they have agreed to combine in a $26.5 billion merger, creating a wireless giant to compete against industry leaders AT&T and Verizon. From a report: Deutsche Telekom AG, the Bonn, Germany-based company that controls T-Mobile, and SoftBank Group, the Tokyo-based owner of Sprint, agreed to a combination that values each Sprint share at 0.10256 of a T-Mobile share, the companies said in a statement Sunday. That ratio values Sprint at $6.62 a share based on T-Mobile's Friday closing price of $64.52. The new company will use the T-Mobile name, with T-Mobile's John Legere as chief executive officer and Mike Sievert at chief operating officer. The German company's chairman, Tim Hoettges, will serve in that role at the combined company, and the board will include SoftBank Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son. The companies said they expect synergies of about $43 billion, with more than $6.5 billion on a run-rate basis.

6 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Fastrack CDMA's demise by ArhcAngel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of all the reasons I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile years back the most important was CDMA. If my phone of choice won't work on your network then why do I want to use it? I'm curious if Sprint is bringing anything to the party other than subscribers?

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  2. Less Competition Means higher Prices by SmaryJerry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I really hope this gets blocked. Not only because basically the number of carriers drops by 25% but because Sprint is a horrible company and I'm afraid they will infect T-mobile with their poor service, customer service, hidden fees, and more.

  3. Re: Synergies is not a financial term. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In this case, it means "layoffs."

  4. Re: Regulatory approval? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You are truly delusional to the point of mental illness if you actually believe Trump is a literal Nazi.

  5. I think it will by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the Comcast AT&T merger got derailed because absolutely everybody, rich or poor, has a reason to hate those too companies. They treat everybody equally awful.

    The current administration's pretty pro corporate (supports TPP, work visa programs and guest worker programs, massive tax cuts for corps, deregulation, backing off on enforcement, still full of Goldman Sachs people, the list goes on). Without pressure from folks hating on one or both companies this'll sail through.

    Sucks, I'm sure it means my bills going to go up and I'll probably end up with data overrage fees again.

    --
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  6. Blocked by DaMattster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am hoping this will be blocked. I remember back in the day when I had NEXTEL and really loved it. NEXTEL worked fantastically up until the point Sprint bought and merged them. Both customer service and communications reliability took a nose dive after the "merger." T-Mobile is doing very well on its own and Sprint is a cancer to whatever it touches. Unless T-Mobile can manage to remain in control, we might as well given to the duopoly overlords because Sprint will be irrelevant if not die outright.