AT&T Reportedly Considering Vodafone Takeover

Vodafone is the largest mobile carrier in Europe and AT&T reportedly wants a piece of it. Bloomberg reports today that AT&T’s employees are internally “laying the groundwork” for a takeover of Vodafone as soon as next year. Apparently both companies have yet to enter formal negotiations, but AT&T is said to be focusing on which Vodafone assets it would retain and which could be sold off to others if a takeover does go through. The carrier is reportedly also preparing a strategy to bolster Vodafone’s operations in Europe, UK’s EE is said to be its alternative takeover target.

This isn’t the first time that AT&T has been rumored to be interested in Vodafone. Back in April this year, it was said that both Verizon and AT&T might team up to takeover Europe’s largest carrier, however Verizon denied the reports back then. A couple of months ago, Big Red announced that its buying out Vodafone’s stake in its business for $130 billion, making it the third largest corporate acquisition. If AT&T and Vodafone reach an agreement, and the former is able to pick up the latter, the takeover would have to wait until Verizon’s buyout of Vodafone’s stake is completed. Both AT&T and Vodafone have yet to comment on this report.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: AT&T, Verizon, vodafone