Verizon Wireless isn’t bothered by pressure from some industry analysts and investors who are urging the company to make a major acquisition in the future, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said on Monday, shortly after the largest mobile service provider in the United States posted the first quarterly loss of postpaid subscribers in its history. Despite the fact that the Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based wireless carrier has seemingly underperformed to a degree during the first quarter of the year and even though an increasing number of its competitors like AT&T are looking into completing some significant mergers and acquisitions in the near future, the Big Red still doesn’t “feel the urgency” to follow suit, McAdam said.
The firm’s top executive stated that the media, analysts, and banks have been trying to convince the company that major mergers and acquisitions are the only viable long-term strategy for Verizon, but the company doesn’t agree with that sentiment. Due to that state of affairs, it seems that the only major acquisition that Verizon will complete in the near future will be that of Yahoo’s core business that the company has agreed to take over for $4.48 billion following months of negotiations that were delayed on several occasions due to the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet giant ending up in the center of several hacking scandals and drawing regulatory attention.
Some industry watchers are quick to point out that Verizon’s upcoming acquisition of Yahoo pales in comparison to AT&T’s planned merger with Time Warner that’s valued at approximately $85.4 million, adding that the Big Red needs to embrace its leading market position and start leading the next wave of consolidations in the telecommunications industry that’s already starting. On the contrary, McAdam said that Verizon is currently supporting such mergers but isn’t planning on conducting any on its own, pointing to a recent joint wireless effort announced by Charter Communications and Comcast as something that the New Jersey-based telecom giant actively encouraged seeing how the wireless services that these two companies are planning to launch will both use Verizon’s airwaves. While it remains to be seen whether Verizon’s conservative acquisition strategy pays off in the long term, an update on the company’s operations should follow in the coming months.