Communications

Capital Calls: Juul’s extra puff

25 Jan 2023

Concise views on global finance: Three large tobacco companies may be interested in some sort of deal with the e-cigarette producer, whose $37 bln value has gone up in smoke.

AT&T’s fiber diet should help mitigate M&A bloat

25 Jan 2023

The telecom titan booked a $25 bln charge on creaky landlines as it keeps paying the price for the disastrous DirecTV and Warner Media deals. These struggles have John Stankey seeking fresh ways to grow. A venture with BlackRock to build high-speed networks is a prudent approach.

City spinner’s $80 mln sale sets an M&A template

10 Jan 2023

Tulchan founder Andrew Grant, a communications consigliere to UK boards, is selling to private equity-backed U.S. group Teneo. It’s an admission that PR firms need a global presence to win the biggest clients. Rivals like Powerscourt and Headland could follow suit.

Europe’s $6 bln space M&A is governance Death Star

25 Jul 2022

France’s Eutelsat and Britain’s OneWeb may merge to pool the cost of new broadband satellites. It de-risks things for UK shareholders, including the state, but Eutelsat investors hate it. Reconciling the interests of two governments and financial backers looks a thankless task.

Telenor dials up another promising Asian deal

23 Nov 2021

Following its jumbo Malaysian merger, the Norwegian telecom operator plans to combine its Thai unit with a rival owned by conglomerate CP. There’s a 25% premium on offer to sell, but $2 bln of intended synergies from the first transaction suggest sticking around is a better call.

Drahi drags satellite M&A into near-earth orbit

4 Oct 2021

France’s Eutelsat rejected the telecom billionaire’s $3.2 bln bid. If a follow-up offer succeeds, Drahi could pursue a cost-saving merger with rival SES, whose TV-signal business is also succumbing to gravity. A chunky spectrum refund from the U.S. government makes a deal easier.

PR firms step into big-ticket merger lull

17 Sep 2021

Global dealmaking hasn't yet surged after America's Labor Day holiday. It may yet happen. In the meantime two big M&A communications firms, WPP-backed Finsbury and Sard Verbinnen, are considering a merger of their own. The combo would get a top league-table spot to shout about.

Microsoft’s $20 bln bet on speech lacks Nuance

12 Apr 2021

The deal is CEO Satya Nadella’s second biggest. Its return on capital is below 2%. But the price is a trifle for the $1.9 trln giant. And Nuance’s tech may finally be delivering on its long-held promise, making it an attractive bolt-on for Microsoft’s expanding cloud business.

Canada mobile deal turns loonies into toonies

15 Mar 2021

Rogers is paying rival Shaw a 69% premium to turn the top four telecoms firms into three. On paper, the buyer is paying too much. But if T-Mobile US-Sprint is a guide, the chance to jointly develop 5G is valuable, if Rogers can stomach the inevitable regulatory horse-trading.

Chatty ECB has a communications problem

2 Dec 2020

Chief Economist Philip Lane has since March spoken with a series of financiers after policy meetings, his diary shows. A perception that a select few have privileged access is best avoided. The even bigger issue is why the central bank has to work so hard to land its message.

Corona Capital: Small biz bankruptcies, NFL

27 Apr 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout. Small businesses get time but not money; the NFL’s draft viewership does a victory dance.

AT&T shows boring CEO transitions are needed

24 Apr 2020

The U.S. telecom firm is elevating John Stankey to replace long-time CEO Randall Stephenson. The transition has been in the works since Elliott came calling last year. But the pandemic has upended the world. Having a 30-year vet at the helm is now required C-suite experience.

Best thing about new AT&T is old AT&T

8 Apr 2020

The U.S. telco enters a downturn with huge debts. That’s not in itself a danger, but it leaves less room to invest in the movies, advertising and cable networks boss Randall Stephenson fought hard to acquire. Fortunately, telecoms now look relatively more appealing anyway.

Videoconferences zoom toward market-boom reckoning

6 Apr 2020

The coronavirus has been a boon for companies hosting virtual meetings. That’s bringing forward the kinds of longer-term user numbers that Slack and Zoom predicted when they went public – and boosting their stock prices. But it’s not clear there’s enough profit to go around.

The Exchange: Verizon’s HR chief

31 Mar 2020

Christy Pambianchi oversees the well-being of more than 100,000 people. She explains how Verizon quickly rewrote the rule book to address the coronavirus outbreak from getting people set up at home to ensuring the safety of field employees providing critical infrastructure.

Zoom’s work-from-home bump will lose appeal

27 Feb 2020

The $28 bln video-communications firm’s stock has shot up more than 60% in a month, as coronavirus prompts a surge in telecommuting. That suggests a deluge of new users, but also requires them to stick around. It’s somewhat defensible, until working from home loses its charm.

Viewsroom: SoftBank in the crosshairs

13 Feb 2020

Activist Elliott is targeting Masayoshi Son’s firm for poor governance and performance. SoftBank could appease the hedge fund by selling investments to finance buybacks. That could include Sprint, whose deal with T-Mobile US just got the nod. Plus: the race for the White House.

T-Mobile US returns to Sprint deal with whip hand

11 Feb 2020

After a judge approved a merger of the telecoms firms, they now need to re-hash the terms. The best-case scenario is that Sprint still gets one-third of the merged company, worth $41 bln. But that looks ridiculous after its poor performance. It probably deserves $6 bln less.

AT&T answers cash call, with caveats

29 Jan 2020

Boss Randall Stephenson is making good on goals by reducing debt, halting M&A, selling assets and raising the dividend. But the $280 bln telecom firm’s use of preferred shares is another form of leverage. Directing $30 bln of precious cash to buybacks is an idea worth ditching.

T-Mobile Sprint antitrust defense has a hole in it

20 Dec 2019

America’s No. 3 and No. 4 telecom firms are fighting state regulators to keep their $26 bln deal on track. Federal watchdogs want to preserve competition by making the companies help Dish build a new fourth mobile carrier. That only works if Dish is up to the job. It may not be.