Iliad Abandons Pursuit of T-Mobile

Reports indicate that French internet and mobile company Iliad has dropped its bid for T-Mobile, claiming that Deutsche Telecom, T-Mobile’s parent company, refused to entertain its offer. Iliad has been placing bids to buy a majority share in T-Mobile for several months, upping the offers after the potential merger between Sprint and T-Mobile fell through. Iliad reportedly bid for 67% of the shares of T-Mobile, valuing it at around $36 per share. I can’t say that I am incredibly surprised that Deutsche Telecom is no longer interested in selling T-Mobile, as the company has had record customer gain and impressive momentum recently with their “Uncarrier” movement. In August, T-Mobile reported the best ever increase in postpaid consumers in a month. What is more surprising is that it took Iliad this long to formally back out of talks with T-Mobile. Just earlier this month, smart mouthed T-Mobile CEO John Legere insisted that T-Mobile was not interested in a merger or acquisition and made several insulting remarks about Iliad: “I can tell you everything you need to know about Iliad,” Legere said. “The owner is wealthy, he’s got long hair, he made his money in porn and his wife is the heir to Louis Vuitton money.” Doesn’t sound like someone who is working on a partnership to me. So, for now, it looks like the pink carrier is going to stay solo and continue to try and change the mobile industry one obnoxious announcement at a time.]]>

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