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We’ve long known Sprint’s intentions on scooping up T-Mobile, but it was only recently these talks became much more serious thanks in part to parent company SoftBank heading negotiations. Where the likelihood of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger faces a few regulatory hurdles, a new offer from a carrier not already invested in the US could have a little more luck.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that French telecom Iliad has made a bid for T-Mobile to the tune of $15 billion. This would give the French company a 56.6% majority stake in T-Mobile who carries a market value of $24.8 billion. Iliad seems confident their offer wont face the same antitrust issues as SoftBank/Sprint, given there wouldn’t be a removal of the 4th largest carrier in the US.
Iliad’s founder and self-made billionaire, Xavier Niel, has reportedly had his eye on the US market for awhile now. He’s been credited with sparking a pricing war in France, with Iliad undercutting much of the competition. Sounds like a perfect fit for T-Mobile.
UPDATE: Sources from the New York Times are now saying the bid may have already been rejected according to “a person briefed on the matter.”
Yessss. Anything other than being bought by Sprint. 3 major carriers aren’t enough.
My sentiments exactly! Sprint is dogs#%! Everything they have ever had their hands on has suffered so let them continue their miserable journey, on their own!
One, the deal from Iliad was already rejected.
Two, Sprint isn’t buying T-Mobile, Softbank is. Or in other words one of the biggest mobile carriers in Asia, and their plans are supposedly to keep T-Mobile and dispose of Sprint.
That’s a lot of billions…
You guys are late. Deal was already refused apparently.
http://www.tmonews.com/2014/07/french-telecoms-company-iliad-makes-bid-for-t-mobile-us/
Makes since. Sprint is offering roughly $32B, Iliad only $15B. T-Mobile most likely wants to sell for as many billions as it can get.
This severely undermines any Softbank bid though. Why would the government ever let a Softbank/Sprint bid go through when they know there are other bidders on the table that won’t reduce the market to 3 major carriers? And T-Mobile is proving quarter after quarter that they don’t need any help. Deutsche Telekom may prefer the Softbank deal, but that doesn’t mean regulatory bodies do. Softbank screwed up when they bought Sprint instead of T-Mobile. They should have dropped their bid for Sprint when Dish came into the picture and scooped up T-Mobile instead. Now they’re stuck with a lemon and it seems the government won’t allow them to make pink lemonade.
Not really. The sprint merger was always about bolstering tmobile. NOT selling off tmobile to the highest bidder.
Hell yeah! Sprint doesn’t know what to do with tmobile.
Yeah they do how to ruin it.
Does T-Mobile know what to do with T-Mobile?
They have been so far. Did you see the improvements they’ve made and the fire they’ve put under the other carriers?
I was just kidding. I like what T-Mobile does, if they had better coverage they could probably bump Sprint for 3rd largest carrier.
It’s going to happen in a quarter or two regardless.
That must be a rhetorical question.
Ah!! The update. =.[
Tmo needs to just stay. Whoever is persuading Tmo to leave the USA market needs to leave me alone!! They are clearly targeting me and WANT me to use AT&T since I’m sticking with GSM phones. LoL!!
Guys, it’s NOT Sprint trying to but T-Mobile, it’s Softbank, and they want to combine Sprint and T-Mobile into a new company run by the T-Mobile guys, this is a good thing. Sadly reality is that both Sprint and T-Mobile will never catch up as separate entities, that’s reality, the only realistic way to compete with the mig two crooks is what Softbank wants to do, think rationally here people, this is about sticking it to ATT and VZW and us benefitting in the long run as consumers
Cue the derogatory thoughts and judgements about a French company wanting to buy a ‘Murrican company.