The rumor-mills have been buzzing for a while now about Sprint attempting to buy T-Mobile - America's third largest carrier gobbling up the fourth.
According to the WSJ the deal is all but final, and a price tag of $32 billion has been agreed to. All that remains is to announce it publicly, and await shareholder and regulatory approval.
When AT&T attempted to buy T-Mobile in 2011, the deal failed to get approved by regulators, who thought that it would diminish competition too much.
It will be interesting to see if any of the same issues emerge this time around, especially since in the meantime T-Mobile has acquired the sixth largest carrier - Metro PCS.
(It can get confusing to keep track of who owns whom!)
The real interesting twist to the rumors this week - though Sprint is the dominant party taking over T-Mobile, it will actually be T-Mobile's unconventional CEO John Legere left in charge of the combined company.
I have loved how Legere has shaken up the entire mobile industry - causing ripples of change that have impacted even the bigger players. If he is also put in charge of Sprint's resources, he may soon have twice as much leverage.
This will be a very interesting developing story to keep an eye on.
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