A British newspaper says Verizon Communications has approached Vodafone with an informal offer to buy Vodafone's 45 percent stake in their mobile joint venture, Verizon Wireless, for $40 billion. There is mounting pressure on both sides for a sale. Some big Vodafone shareholders want the company to get rid of its stake in Verizon Wireless to shore up the company's financials as the carrier faces slowing growth in many markets. Verizon feels like it needs to be the sole owner to bring swift innovation to Verizon Wireless, especially now that AT&T will have sole ownership of Cingular. But Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin runs into the same pesky problems. There is a lot of value in Verizon Wireless that Vodafone wants to maximize, and selling means it will be left out of the U.S. market.
To read more about Verizon Communications' informal bid for its wireless JV:
- take a look at this article from DMEurope.com