Who Wins In AT&T Wireless/Cingular Deal? Verizon
Business Week points out that the biggest winner from the Cingular/AT&T Wireless merger is likely to be Verizon – and they have their “partner” Vodafone to thank for it. Thanks to Vodafone driving up the bid, Cingular ended up paying $11 billion more than they had originally hoped to pay for AT&T Wireless. At the same time, there are a ton of integration questions, and if any of them happen to go the wrong way, it could be very damaging for the new company, allowing the suddenly #2 Verizon Wireless to push forward. Meanwhile, Cingular’s parents, SBC and BellSouth are also going to get dragged down into the integration mess, which could help Verizon against them as well.
