Sprint said to be preparing to buy T-Mobile this summer

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Sprint is preparing to acquire T-Mobile this summer. It’s a rumor we’ve heard before, but the outlet says that the carrier has met with a number of banks, and plans to make a serious bid as early as June.
SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom, which own majority stakes in Sprint and T-Mobile respectively, are said to be in ‘active discussions’ over the buyout and possible CEO prospects. And unsurprisingly, T-Mobile’s John Legere is the leading candidate…
Here’s the report from Bloomberg:

Sprint Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer and Treasurer Greg Block met with six banks to ensure the lenders would be ready with financing structures when Sprint decides to pursue a takeover, said three of the people, asking not to named because the discussions are private. T-Mobile US has a market value of $23.5 billion. [...]
SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE), which owns about 67 percent of T-Mobile, are still speaking with each other to determine who would run the company, the people said. T-Mobile CEO John Legere is the leading candidate, one of the people said.

T-Mobile’s John Legere has turn quite a few heads during his short tenure as the carrier’s outspoken CEO. In addition to his highly successful ‘uncarrier‘ marketing campaign, Legere has also been involved in public spats with AT&T and BlackBerry.

Anyway, in order for him (or anyone) to become CEO of the combined company, the buyout has to happen. Even if the numbers work out, the entire thing still needs to be approved by various regulators, who have shot down similar deals in the past.
Currently, T-Mobile is the fourth largest carrier in the US with 45 million subscribers and Sprint is just ahead of it with 54 million. For comparison, Verizon has 120 million and AT&T has 108 million. So you can see how this could alter the landscape.

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