A Sprint and T-Mobile merger has been rumored for months, but now it appears those rumors are holding true. Apparently, both companies are close to a deal where Sprint will acquire T-Mobile for $40 per share.
According to a reports, Sprint's offer is roughly half in cash and half in stock, and would leave Deutsche Telekom with around 15 percent of T-Mobile. This is all considering if U.S. regulators give the deal the green light to go forward.
At just $40 per share, the deal could cost Sprint somewhere around $31 billion, which is quite a lot of money to spend. However, with AT&T and Verizon controlling the mobile market with an iron fist, we could see why Sprint would want to spend this much on a company that despite all its best efforts, still finds it difficult to bounce back into the game.
Such a deal between the third and fourth largest carriers in the U.S. could create a formidable competitor to AT&T and Verizon, one that has been lacking in the past several years. If Sprint and T-Mobile's planned merger should ever happen, then it would be welcoming for consumers as they would have a true third option to the main two.
Billionaire Masayoshi Son, the founder of Japan-based SoftBank Corp., which owns 80 percent shares in T-Mobile, is hell bent on getting Sprint to acquire T-Mobile, as he believes it would be in the best interest of the American people. Whether or not this is true is left to be seen, and Sprint will have to make a good case to regulators if the company wants to get its way.
Sprint is not the only company that is interested in acquiring T-Mobile. AT&T tried and failed, but that could be due to AT&T's status and how powerful the carrier would have become with T-Mobile under its wings.
With Sprint struggling to compete effectively, we believe regulators will allow Sprint to acquire T-Mobile, but not before being convinced on how the American consumers would benefit from such a deal. Masayoshi Son has a lot of work to do, and we believe he might very well get his way.
