(Bloomberg) – T-Mobile US Inc. shares surged as much as 6.4 percent after a report that the fourth-largest U.S. wireless company is in talks to merge with Dish Network Corp.
The purchase price is unresolved, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations. John Legere, T-Mobile US’s chief executive officer, would take the top role at the combined company, and Dish’s Charlie Ergen would be chairman, according to the report.
Ergen has said as recently as February that he is interested in deals and intrigued by T-Mobile. A combination of Dish and T-Mobile could advance Ergen’s plan for streaming mobile video to challenge cable companies and employ a vast airwave holding to compete in wireless service against the two largest carriers, Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.
“Dish investors have seen this movie before,” said Paul Sweeney, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “Charlie is very disciplined and if he does not get the exact terms he wants, he will walk away.”