The third-largest mobile phones company in the US has abandoned its $30 billion (£18 billion) takeover plans of smaller rival T-Mobile US to create a new business to rival market leaders AT&T and Verizon.
Sprint, controlled by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, ended talks after it became clear regulators in the US would be unlikely to approve such a big deal because they were keen to have only four major wireless carriers. The collapse of negotiations has also led to Sprint chief executive Dan Hesse falling on his sword.
He will be replaced by Marcelo Claure, who founded mobile phones distributor Brightstar, which was bought by Sprint’s parent company last year.
With Sprint walking away, it could see T-Mobile reigniting talks with French firm Iliad, after the company made an approach only to be outbid by its US rival.
The collapsed talks come on the same day Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox walked away from a potential $71 billion takeover of Time Warner, with the media tycoon blaming Time’s refusal to look over the bid. It means $100 billion of US M&A deals were wiped out in a few hours.
