Rumors of Verizon Communications buying Vodafone's stake in their Verizon Wireless joint venture have been floating around the mobile world for years now, but according to a new report, the two companies may finally soon seal the deal.
Sources speaking to the
Wall Street Journal claims that negotiators for Verizon Communications and Vodafone have reached an agreement that will see Verizon pay $130 billion for Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless. Under the current deal terms, it's said that Verizon's $130 billion payment will be made up of equal parts cash and stock. The agreement isn't quite a done deal yet, as the boards of both Verizon Communications and Vodafone need to vote on it, but the WSJ's tipsters claim that an announcement could come as soon as tomorrow afternoon.
Rumblings of Verizon's desire to actually get a deal with Vodafone done this year
began surfacing back in March. As I said before, though, reports that the two firms working on an agreement have popped up frequently in the past, so many folks filed that March leak away as just another in a long line of rumors. Now it looks like we may finally see the rumors become reality in a deal that will give Verizon Communications full control over Verizon Wireless, while Vodafone will get a pretty hefty sum of cash and stock. Sounds like a win-win to me. Stay tuned and I'll update you with more details on the agreement as I get 'em.
