Masayoshi Son Sprints Away from T-Mobile

Every tower owner can let out a huge sigh of relief because The Wall Street Journal reported last night that Sprint is ending its pursuit of T-Mobile. People familiar with the matter said the company and its parent, SoftBank, decided it would be too difficult to win approval from regulators. The Wall Street Journal also announced that Sprint is expected to replace CEO Dan Hesse and Re/code has reported that the company plans to name Marcelo Claure, one of its board members and head of wireless distributor Brightstar, as its new CEO. Japan’s Softbank acquired a majority stake in Brightstar last year, where Claure, the founder of Brightstar, owns the remainder of the company, which controls billions of dollars in cellular gear purchases each year, according to Re/code. Jonathan Chaplin of New Street Research feels that Sprint abandoning T-Mobile is a step in the right direction, “We believe this is a step in the right direction. Masa and the new mgmt. team can now focus on turning Sprint’s business around. The companies can revisit this deal in a year or two, when the regulatory environment should be more hospitable. The near-term will be rough; we wouldn’t be surprised to see Sprint hit our standalone valuation target of $4. VZ, T, and TMUS may all face pressure tomorrow; however, TMUS is best positioned among them. Positive for Towers.” With T-Mobile saying “no” to Iliad and Masayoshi Son giving up on changing the U.S. wireless industry market it’ll be interesting to see what happens next.