merger

week in review Bowing to the objections of federal regulators, AT&T withdrew its $39 billion bid to acquire T-Mobile.

In August, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block the merger. And in November the Federal Communications Commission indicated it opposed the merger as well. In both cases, the Justice Department and the FCC said that the merger between the second largest and fourth largest wireless phone companies in the U.S would harm competition. The FCC went as far as to say in its report of the merger that the deal would result in massive layoffs … Read more

T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, may be losing out on $39 billion from its failed attempt to merge with AT&T, but on Tuesday the company gave a bit more detail on its consolation prize.

But will the breakup fee be enough to save T-Mobile?

On Monday, AT&T announced that it had ended its pursuit to buy T-Mobile. The company said it decided to pull the plug after it became clear it could not persuade regulators of the benefits of the merger.

While the dissolution of the deal leaves AT&T without much-needed spectrum to … Read more

Here's an upbeat tidbit to end the year: 2011 is on track to the biggest year in venture capital deals in a decade.

Big years make for daring bets, and for this year I've chose a dozen influential investors to single out for their role in fueling startups of all sorts.

If the final quarter shapes up as it looks like it will, venture capital deals will total $30 billion for the year, a 25-percent jump from 2010, according to Anand Sanwal, whose firm, CB Insights, tracks investment activity among VCs and some big angel investors.

"I … Read more

AT&T finally ditched its plan to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion on Monday, after months of intense lobbying.

AT&T blamed regulators for the deal's demise, and the company said in a statement that consumers would be harmed and investment would be stifled as a result. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission--the two agencies that opposed the deal--said that AT&T's decision to abandon its purchase was a victory for consumers.

"Consumers won today," Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Sharis A. Pozen … Read more

From the outset, it appeared that AT&T had all the political elbow grease it needed to complete its ultimately failed takeover of rival carrier T-Mobile.

Yet pressure from Sprint, the Department of Justice (DOJ), antitrust interests, and finally the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had AT&T fighting to revise the terms of its buyout proposal. Today, after a nine-month drama of diminishing opportunities to pass the merger, AT&T finally threw in the towel.

Although the deal may have been doomed for some time, early signs pointed to AT&T pocketing T-Mobile's assets. It … Read more

Not long ago, I wrote a piece speculating on what T-Mobile would do if the AT&T deal fell apart.

Well, looks like "if" has come true. So I thought I'd go back to some highlights from the earlier post.

By itself, T-Mobile is a wireless operator struggling to keep its best customers from leaving. Over the past several months, the carrier has aggressively cut prices and made itself a haven for bargain seekers--all for the sake of sparking a little growth. As a result, it resembles a large prepaid carrier more than one of the … Read more

Christmas came early for Sprint today when AT&T announced that it was abandoning its controversial $39 billion bid to acquire T-Mobile.

In a statement released moments ago, Vonya B. McCann, Sprint's senior vice president of Government Affairs, said AT&T made the "right decision for consumers, competition and innovation in the wireless industry."

"From the beginning, Sprint has stood with consumers who spoke loudly and clearly that AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile would create an undeniable duopoly that would have resulted in higher prices, less innovation and fewer choices for … Read more

Dish Network is sitting pretty right now.

The demise of AT&T's $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile leaves AT&T in a vulnerable position, that of a company in need of wireless spectrum but with few sources from whom to acquire it.

Verizon Wireless has only exacerbated the dilemma with its own move to acquire spectrum held by the cable providers, which shores up its own position. The broadcasters, meanwhile, have been sitting on a stash of spectrum and have been fighting attempts by the Federal Communications Commission to repurpose it for the wireless industry.

AT&… Read more

AT&T said today that it has withdrawn its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA in a deal worth $39 billion.

The company said it would take a $4 billion charge in the fourth quarter as part of the break-up fee with Deutsche Telekom. The companies had agreed to this break-up fee when they formed the deal, which was announced in March. AT&T said the companies will also enter into a mutually beneficial roaming agreement.

There had been much speculation about how long AT&T would fight to keep its deal with T-Mobile alive. In August, the … Read more