Deal would combine third and fourth biggest mobile providers in the U.S.
Sean Burch | September 22, 2017 @ 7:40 AM
Last Updated: September 22, 2017 @ 7:44 AM
T-Mobile and Sprint are closing in on an agreement to merge the two wireless providers, an individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TheWrap.
The third and fourth biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. would combine for about 130 million users — putting them on par with industry leaders Verizon and AT&T.
Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s majority owner, would hold a majority stake in the new company, with Sprint parent company SoftBank Group retaining between 40 and 50 percent, according to Reuters.
If terms of an agreement can be reached, the deal would be finalized in October. Sprint chief exec John Legere would lead the combined company, according to Reuters.
This isn’t the first time the two cellular giants have flirted with each other; T-Mobile and Sprint had to call off their pursuit of a merger in 2014 following scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department. The new proposed merger would also put the two companies under the microscope from regulators.
Aiming to beef up its network to compete with the two U.S. heavyweights, Sprint also looked at Charter Communications in 2017 as a potential partner. The deal was quickly tabled.
Sprint and T-Mobile have seen their stock enjoy a bump on Friday, with Sprint jumping nearly 5 percent and T-Mobile rising about 1.5 percent.
6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post
The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”
The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."
The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”
The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.
OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.
Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.
Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
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