How we got here
Said deal was initially expected to close by June 1 at a $1.4 billion price tag, but although we’re still a few weeks away from the formal July 1 deadline set after the April 1 completion of the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, it seems less and less likely that Magenta and Dish will be able to reach a compromise so soon.
In Ergen’s defense, it’s hard to dispute that Boost’s value has fallen amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, T-Mobile’s complaints that Dish is “extremely hard to work with and not living up to their end of the bargain” might suggest the notoriously difficult Ergen never intended to close the deal as it stands. Instead, Dish could be looking to “squeeze” T-Mobile, knowing full well that the divestiture is more important for Sprint’s new parent company.
What happens now
Obviously, there are a lot of uncertainties, question marks, and moving parts to the Boost Mobile acquisition equation, especially with a lot of the new information regarding tensions at the negotiation table coming from insiders and unnamed sources rather than company officials.
Namely, a mysterious “major private equity firm” is purportedly looking to become a partner in a Boost buyout group. Of course, it’s not entirely clear yet what this “group’s” intentions for the prepaid mobile virtual network operator might be.
