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.