Here’s a bit of news regarding T-Mobile that’s making it’s way around right now. Last week we heard that French Carrier Iliad was looking to pick up T-Mobile and put down a bid of around $15 billion. Well that same day, T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom rejected that offer. But I guess that wasn’t enough as T-Mobile USA will formally reject the offer tomorrow, according to The New York Times and Bloomberg. According to The New York Times,
“T-Mobile US is planning on rejecting Iliad’s $15 billion offer for the carrier because its parent company, Deutsche Telekom views the offer as too low, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing two people with knowledge of the situation.”
To be honest, we really aren’t surprised that T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom have turned down the offer from Iliad. It appears that Iliad was just throwing their hat in the game and well it got tossed out real quick. Seeing as Iliad’s market value is only $16 billion and their bid for T-Mobile was $15 billion, we kinda figured they wouldn’t have the cash to really help T-Mobile USA. As that’s what magenta needs, a parent company that will put in the time and money it needs to really grow. T-Mobile has already seen substantial growth in the past year or two, since John Legere took over, but they’ll need more cash to reach that next level. And right now Softbank appears willing to throw it at them for a merger. Softbank’s reported bid is for $40 billion, but it’s not completely official just yet as both sides are finishing up all the lose ends before they make it official and send it in to the FCC to approve it – which will be a hurdle in of itself.
So in the end, it’s not surprising that T-Mobile doesn’t want this deal. And in fact, Deutsche Telekom has even said that they aren’t in as big of a rush to leave the US as they were a few years ago, as T-Mobile is actually gaining momentum and making money.