SoftBank (majority owner of Sprint) reportedly ended talks to merge Sprint (domain: sprint.com) with T-Mobile (domain: t-mobile.com) because of a dispute over control. T-Mobile's German parent, Deutsche Telecom, insisted on a controlling stake in the merged company--"SoftBank's board discussed at a meeting Friday that the company [Softbank] would not give up control. The decision was made Monday to call the talks off."--asia.nikkei.com.
DomainMondo.com Editor's note: This was easily foreseen and should have been a deal-killer from the very beginning, or before talks even began, since Deutsche Telekom (majority owner of T-Mobile US, Inc.), had always insisted on maintaining a controlling stake in the merged enterprise. SoftBank essentially bought a "pig in a poke" when it entered into the 2013 merger transaction that gave it controlling interest in U.S. fourth-place wireless carrier Sprint.
SoftBank Said to Halt Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Talks
Bloomberg.com video above published Oct 30, 2017: SoftBank's talks to merge Sprint with T-Mobile have hit a serious snag, according to people familiar with the matter, throwing the deal into jeopardy after months of talks. Bloomberg Intelligence's John Butler reports on "Bloomberg Markets."
Shares in both T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) and Sprint (NYSE: S) were down Monday on the news:
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| T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) |
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| Sprint (NYSE: S) |
source: Statista.com