Dish and T-Mobile Looking to Merge; John Legere Would be the CEO of the Result

[dgstorm]

Can two companies who are in last place in their respective markets become more competitive by teaming up? Dish and T-Mobile seem to think so. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Dish and T-Mobile are in talks for a merger of their two companies. Supposedly, they have even already planned to have John Legere stay on as the CEO of the new conglomerate. Here's a quote with some of the details,

The two sides are in close agreement about what the combined company would look like, with Dish Chief Executive Charlie Ergen becoming the company’s chairman and his T-Mobile counterpart, John Legere, serving as the combined company’s CEO, the people said.

Tougher questions about a purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for a deal remain unresolved, the people said. One of the people characterized the talks as at “the formative stage,” and said an agreement might not ultimately be hammered out.

The most interesting thing about this proposed merger is that it would likely not even warrant any passing concern from US regulatory agencies, because the result certainly wouldn't create a monopoly in either respective market.

Interestingly, both companies have been trying to work out deals for some time throughout the industry. T-Mobile has been trying to pawn itself off with no luck for years, and Dish has actually tried to purchase various telecoms companies on more than one occasion. In fact, Dish was actually interested in buying T-Mobile before the merger with AT&T failed several years ago.

For now, it's nothing but a plan the two companies are trying to iron out. If they can reach a viable consensus, we will likely see them move forward with the merger by the end of the year.