T-Mobile tried and failed to merge with Dish years ago, John Legere says
0Reported today on The Verge
For the full article visit: https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/13/21020475/tmobile-dish-merger-2015-fail-john-legere-ceo-sprint-assets
Reported today in The Verge.
T-Mobile tried and failed to merge with Dish years ago, John Legere says
T-Mobile wanted to merge with Dish back in 2015, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told a federal court yesterday, but Dish shot the deal down over concerns that T-Mobile would "disintegrate." The details, reported by CNET, confirm stories from 2015 about a potential tie-up between the two companies and explains why the deal never came to be. A merger would have given T-Mobile access to a trove of valuable spectrum that Dish has long held on to, but not yet put to use, along with a satellite TV business.
Legere was in court testifying as part of a lawsuit brought by multiple state attorneys general who are attempting to block T-Mobile's merger with Sprint. Lawyers for the attorneys general asked Legere why T-Mobile had to merge with Sprint, a direct rival, as opposed to Dish, which does not currently offer cell service, according to CNET. Legere reportedly said that he had recommended that idea to T-Mobile's board in 2015, with the goal of "un-carriering" Dish's TV business, only to be shot down by Dish.
For T-Mobile, there would have been major upsides to the deal. Dish has a large swath of spectrum "roughly the size of Verizon's" that could be used for LTE, Legere is reported as saying. T-Mobile would end up paying $8 billion to acquire similar spectrum two years later in an attempt to put its network on par with AT&T and Verizon. Dish's TV business also would have allowed T-Mobile to diversify and lock in subscribers, much in the way that AT&T and Verizon both offer TV service.
But Dish co-founder Charlie Ergen feared T-Mobile's stock was going to drop, falling to $20 from the $25 it was at during the time of discussions, devaluing the acquisition, according to CNET. T-Mobile