What you need to know
- On April 1, 2020, T-Mobile officially completed its merger with Sprint.
- "The New T-Mobile," is the name of the joined brands, but it will continue to operate as "T-Mobile."
- John Legere is stepping down as CEO ahead of schedule, handing the reins over to Mike Sievert.
Back in June 2018, it was announced that T-Mobile and Sprint would be joining forces and come together as one carrier. It's been a long and bumpy ride since that initial announcement video, but now on April 1, 2020, the deal is finally completed.
The completion of the merger was confirmed in a press release on T-Mobile's blog, with the company saying:
T-Mobile US Inc. announced today that it has officially completed its merger with Sprint Corporation to create the New T-Mobile, a supercharged Un-carrier that will deliver a transformative 5G network.
Business will continue under the T-Mobile name we already have, along with the company's stock still trading as TMUS.
In addition to this merger finally going in the books as a done deal, today also marks John Legere's departure as CEO of T-Mobile. Legere announced he would be leaving the company on April 30, but with the merger now complete, he's taking off ahead of schedule. As expected, former COO Mike Sievert is T-Mobile's new CEO effective immediately.
Effective immediately, Sievert will assume the role of CEO of T-Mobile. Legere, who served as CEO of T-Mobile since 2012, built a culture around listening to employees, putting the customer first and shaking up the market with signature Un-carrier moves.
As you might expect, combining two of the nation's top wireless providers is a move that comes with a lot of money. As noted in today's press release:
The enhanced scale and financial strength of the combined company will drive a planned investment of $40 billion into its network, business and more over the next three years. Synergies achieved from the integration have the potential to unlock massive scale and unleash at least $43 billion in value for shareholders.
Seeing as how T-Mobile and Sprint were given a thumbs up by the feds back in February, today's announcement doesn't come as a surprise. That said, it still marks a major shift in the U.S. wireless space as we go from four top players down to three.
The coming months and years are bound to be immensely interesting, so buckle up.
