Sprint and corporate parent SoftBank may have finally thrown in the towel regarding its nearly year-long pursuit to purchase the 67% ownership stake in T-Mobile USA that DT wishes to sell to the highest bidder. Sources being cited by both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are confirming that the purchase effort has been abandoned with a possible change in Sprint CEO also in the offing as a result of the change in direction according to Bloomberg.
As both companies believe that the current regulatory environment was dead set against further consolidation and wishes to preserve a four carrier market, Sprint and its owner Softbank will pursue a new strategy without T-Mobile’s infrastructure and assets. Sprint may make an announcement regarding a change of direction as soon as Wednesday, though nothing has been announced or confirmed.
In related news, T-Mobile was also reported to have formally rejected French carrier Iliad’s $33 billion purchase offer for 56.6 percent of the company as the carrier was said to have refused Iliad’s request for access to its financial records in order to perform the due diligence necessary for the purchase process to begin, with Iliad offering no further comment on the next steps that it will take. Iliad’s bid for T-Mobile had been reported as a surprise bid last week with the carrier recently going as far as soliciting hedge funds, mutual funds and cable companies with help in its bid for the “UnCarrier” as it was seeking additional financing for its bid, owing to multiple banks being tied up in the Sprint-T-Mobile purchase, making financing more difficult.
