Jun 17, 2020 - Economy & Business

SoftBank to sell most of T-Mobile stake

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

SoftBank Group confirmed it will sell most of its $30 billion stake in T-Mobile US (Nasdaq: TMUS), which it acquired via T-Mobile's recent purchase of Sprint. Word is the moves could begin as early as next week.

Why it matters: This is part of SoftBank's mad dash for cash — partially driven by write-downs from its $100 billion Vision Fund — and could fund around half of its planned $40 billion in divestitures.

  • Structure: No official details yet. Reports suggest a combination of secondary public offering and a private placement to top T-Mobile shareholder Deutsche Telekom (which doesn't want to lose control), while SoftBank also said there could be structured transactions.
  • Also: T-Mobile yesterday pink-slipped hundreds of Sprint employees, per TechCrunch. It's worth recalling that T-Mobile and Sprint pitched regulators on how their merger would create jobs.

The bottom line: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

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