DTE.DE - Deutsche Telekom AG
Chart Events
Performance Outlook
- Short Term2W - 6W
- Mid Term6W - 9M
- Long Term9M+
| Previous Close | 15.11 |
| Open | 15.11 |
| Bid | 14.97 x 910400 |
| Ask | 14.98 x 288200 |
| Day's Range | 14.97 - 15.16 |
| 52 Week Range | 10.41 - 16.75 |
| Volume | 6,991,416 |
| Avg. Volume | 13,110,022 |
| Market Cap | 71.097B |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 0.59 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 18.30 |
| EPS (TTM) | 0.82 |
| Earnings Date | Aug 13, 2020 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 1.20 (8.07%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | Jun 22, 2020 |
| 1y Target Est | 17.40 |
- Bloomberg
Wirecard Scandal Puts German Boards on the Spot
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- One more item for Germany’s to-do list following the Wirecard scandal: Reassess the country’s two-tier board system.German companies are run by executives on a management board. Above them sits a supervisory board of non-executives, whose explicit duties are appointing, supervising and advising the managers. A longstanding question is whether these supervisory boards properly protect investors’ interests.Wirecard, now accused by auditor Ernst & Young of “an elaborate and sophisticated fraud,” should rekindle the debate.For starters, the composition of Wirecard AG’s supervisory board didn’t keep up with the increasing complexity of the company. It had only three members until June 2016, when it grew to five. Being so small, the board chose not to create dedicated committees for audit or risk and compliance until early 2019. When they were created, it was amid mounting pressure on the company following the Financial Times’s dogged investigation into its suspect accounting.Now consider how the supervisory board described its duties. The language of the board’s most recent yearly summary (for 2018) was more about observing than taking action. The directors kept themselves “intensively informed” about the “development, position and perspectives” of the group. Their function was to “monitor.” The board performed the “tasks incumbent on it pursuant to the law,” implying a box-ticking mindset.It took yet more pressure from the FT before Wirecard engaged KPMG for an independent audit last October.Of course, KPMG’s review wasn’t completed due to obstruction by Wirecard and partner companies. For hedge fund TCI Fund Management Ltd, that failure also raised questions about the supervisory board’s ability to be more than a passive observer. TCI wrote publicly to supervisory board chairman Thomas Eichelmann, asking why he hadn’t intervened when it was clear KPMG couldn’t finish its job.As TCI pointed out, the German Stock Corporation Act says supervisory board members have a duty of care to the company, and are liable for damages if they breach that duty. But there is a question here about whether the "supervisory" nature of the role is too weakly defined in the Act and the German corporate code. Wirecard is sadly not the only corporate disgrace in Germany in recent history. It follows the Dieselgate emissions-rigging debacle and the Siemens AG bribery scandal from almost 15 years ago.For example, the German corporate governance code says supervisory board members can serve for 12 years before their length of service prevents them being deemed independent. Wulf Matthias was in the role at Wirecard for more than 11 years before stepping down in January. True, some chairmen of DAX index constituents have served longer, for example at Deutsche Telekom AG and some family-controlled companies. But it is generally accepted that boards benefit from fresh leadership at least every decade. The equivalent limit in the U.K. corporate governance code is nine years.To be sure, there’s no reason why a two-tier board system can’t be effective. But it requires supervisory boards to have a clear remit, to be properly accountable and to attract the best talent with an interventionist mindset. Germany needs to ask whether its current regime really fosters that.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. He previously worked for Reuters Breakingviews, as well as the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Germany won't agree on 5G rules before summer break
Telecommunications companies will have to wait until at least September for Germany's government to agree rules on installing components in the future 5G mobile communications network, a government official said on Thursday. Deutsche Telekom, Huawei's largest customer in Europe, has argued against any blanket bans on individual foreign vendors.
- Thomson Reuters StreetEvents
Edited Transcript of DTE.DE earnings conference call or presentation 14-May-20 12:00pm GMT
Q1 2020 Deutsche Telekom AG Earnings Call
- Barrons.com
SoftBank Sale of T-Mobile Stake Prices at $103 Per Share
That price values SoftBank’s T-Mobile stake at over $31 billion. It represents a 3.8% discount to T-Mobile stock’s $107.16 record-high closing price on Tuesday.
- Bloomberg
T-Mobile Prices Shares at $103 Each in SoftBank Deal
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. offloaded a large chunk of its stake in wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc. stake at a discount, cementing a series of transactions that could fetch as much as $20 billion for the Japanese investment giant.The Tokyo-based company raised $14.8 billion from a sale of T-Mobile shares to institutional investors, SoftBank said in a statement. The offering of 143.4 million shares was priced at $103 apiece, representing a 3.9% discount to T-Mobile’s record high closing price on Tuesday.SoftBank is set to raise another $4.1 billion through several related deals that will see shares sold to Marcelo Claure, a T-Mobile board member, and other investors, according to the statement Wednesday. The total proceeds would rise to $20 billion if so-called over-allotment options are exercised.The deals are part of SoftBank’s broader $42 billion push to unload assets to finance stock buybacks and pay down debt. Masayoshi Son, the company’s founder, is dealing with steep losses in his Vision Fund after writing down the value of investments in the sharing economy from WeWork to Uber Technologies Inc.T-Mobile’s controlling shareholder, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG, has also been granted the right to buy 101.5 million shares in the U.S. carrier currently held by SoftBank, according to the statement. The stake is worth about $10.9 billion based on Wednesday’s closing price. Deutsche Telekom can exercise its options to buy the stock up to June 2024, according to a T-Mobile filing.SoftBank will now turn its attention to other assets in its portfolio and may pursue an outright sale of part of its stake in e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Son has said $11.5 billion raised from issuing contracts to sell stock in the Chinese company was a first step toward unwinding more of its holdings. SoftBank also plans to sell a 5% stake in its Japanese wireless subsidiary.Read more: SoftBank to Sell Slice of T-Mobile in a $21 Billion DealSoftBank agreed to pay T-Mobile $300 million as part of the transaction and will cover all fees and expenses related to the deal. The company became a co-owner of T-Mobile with Deutsche Telekom after the carrier took over Sprint Corp. this year in a $26.5 billion merger.SoftBank “needs to further enhance its cash reserves,” the Japanese company said in a statement on Tuesday, citing concerns for “a second and third wave of spread of Covid-19.” The Japanese investment giant may invest the proceeds in high-quality securities until they are used for buybacks or debt reductions.The stock offering was overseen by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. PJT Partners Inc. served as financial adviser to T-Mobile’s board.(Updates with details of related transactions from third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
SoftBank's Son Hawks a Hot Stock for Cool Cash
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. unloads about 200 million shares of T-Mobile US Inc., more investors get a chance to own a top-performing stock that had been hogged by insiders. SoftBank’s fire sale isn’t a knock on T-Mobile, but rather a reluctant move by billionaire Masayoshi Son to shore up his own troubled conglomerate. Indeed, his loss will be someone else’s gain. Son took control of Sprint Corp. in 2013 and then spent years pursuing a merger between the beleaguered wireless carrier and its stronger rival, T-Mobile. He finally got his way thanks to the Trump administration’s lax regulators at the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission. Their focus on America’s standing in the so-called race to 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity, overshadowed the antitrust concerns. Sprint officially became part of T-Mobile in April, handing SoftBank ownership of about 25% of the combined company; another 44% is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG. Until this week, that left only a small public float for a stock that’s long been the envy of its industry — and will likely continue to be.After the implosion of office-space rental company WeWork Cos. and the Covid-19 pandemic, SoftBank suffered record losses from its investments and is in need of cash. In turn, the company is undertaking a series of complex transactions to exit most of its T-Mobile stake, generating about $20 billion in proceeds. The deal involves a public equity offering, a rights offering to existing shareholders, a private trust vehicle and a call option for Deutsche Telekom to increase its ownership of T-Mobile down the road when its own balance sheet is in better shape. The transactions are structured so that even though more T-Mobile shares will be available to the public, the total number of shares outstanding won’t change. T-Mobile also gets $300 million for playing banker. T-Mobile’s stock price closed at an all-time high of $107.16 on Tuesday. After the market closed, the shares SoftBank is selling priced at $103 apiece, according to a CNBC report.T-Mobile’s subscriber base, revenue and stock price are all expected to continue growing for the foreseeable future at a faster clip than that of its two larger rivals, Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. Its consumer appeal comes from offering cheaper data plans on a network that has improved tremendously over the years, as well as a friendlier customer-service experience. Led by a larger-than-life CEO whose magenta wardrobe made him a walking T-Mobile billboard, the company was able to distinguish itself over time as a fun brand in an otherwise drab industry. That CEO, John Legere, left after sealing the Sprint deal and was replaced by Mike Sievert. The SoftBank share sale is also a farewell performance for Braxton Carter, T-Mobile’s pink cowboy hat-wearing chief financial officer, who retires next week. The Sprint merger fundamentally changed the industry by eliminating a low-cost rival that T-Mobile competed with most. T-Mobile’s own porting ratios, a measure of how many customers one carrier steals from another, showed that it was consistently taking a bigger bite out of Sprint’s subscriber base than either Verizon or AT&T’s. Now that the deal is done, T-Mobile would seem to have two options: 1) Given that there’s so much extra capacity on its network to handle more subscribers, it could cut prices even more. That would supercharge its own growth while putting pressure on AT&T and Verizon. 2) Instead, T-Mobile could keep prices flat or even raise them to improve profit margins more immediately, leaving competition more stagnant. The latter option is the less innovative, less consumer-friendly route that was feared by opponents of the Sprint takeover. (T-Mobile’s 13-hour outage on its network last week also doesn’t help to quell the fear that the industry is insufficiently regulated.) Here’s how different T-Mobile’s profitability might look if it were to adopt AT&T’s pricing:In either case, it may be a win-win for investors. T-Mobile executives predict that it will save more than $40 billion in costs due to the Sprint deal, much of which will come from job cuts and shutting stores in overlapping locations (another reason the transaction was criticized). Wireless carriers also rely on costly ad campaigns to promote their networks. The combined T-Mobile-Sprint will now be able to save about $700 million a year just from lower advertising expenses, according to a report earlier this month by Jonathan Chaplin, an analyst for New Street Research.Chaplin expects T-Mobile to pursue the less aggressive avenue of growth, but even then he sees its stock price doubling over the next three to five years. Analysts are generally less optimistic about AT&T and Verizon, as one undergoes a difficult transformation into a communications and entertainment colossus, while the other remains almost singularly focused on 5G with a less-than-ideal set of wireless spectrum. After buying Sprint, T-Mobile’s future looks to be either grow fast or grow faster. Still, this week’s news shows that for a merger pumped up on American 5G zeal and patriotism, the biggest beneficiary just might be a Japanese billionaire short on cash.(Adds pricing information in the fourth paragraph.)This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tara Lachapelle is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications, as well as broader deals. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Barrons.com
Softbank’s Sale of T-Mobile Stake Is Priced at an All-Time High. What Comes Next.
T-Mobile US stock closed at a record high of $107.16 —a stroke of fortune for SoftBank Group as it moves ahead with a complex divestment of T-Mobile stock.
- Bloomberg
SoftBank to Sell Slice of T-Mobile in a $21 Billion Deal
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp., under pressure to raise capital after record losses in its investment business, is unloading part of its stake in wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc. in a $21 billion deal.The transaction, along with a plan to sell a 5% stake in its Japanese wireless subsidiary, is part of a broader $42 billion push by SoftBank to unload assets to finance stock buybacks and pay down debt. Masayoshi Son, the company’s founder, is dealing with steep losses in his Vision Fund after writing down the value of investments in the sharing economy from WeWork to Uber Technologies Inc.SoftBank’s shares gained as much as 3% in Tokyo. The Japanese investment giant will now turn its attention to other assets in its portfolio and may pursue an outright sale of part of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Son has said $11.5 billion raised from issuing contracts to sell stock in Asia’s largest corporation was a first step toward unwinding more of its holdings.SoftBank “needs to further enhance its cash reserves,” the Japanese company said in a statement on Tuesday, citing concerns for “a second and third wave of spread of Covid-19.” The company may invest the proceeds in high-quality securities until they are used for buybacks or debt reductions, it added.Read more: SoftBank Wraps Up $4.7 Billion Share Buyback in Three MonthsThe Japanese company is trying to shore up a balance sheet devastated by writedowns that triggered a record 1.9 trillion yen ($18 billion) loss last fiscal year at the Vision Fund. As concerns about investments mounted, Son responded with share repurchases in rapid succession, completing a $4.7 billion buyback program in just three months.As part of a complex series of transactions unveiled Tuesday, T-Mobile will hold a public offering of 133.5 million shares of its common stock, the carrier said in a statement. It also will grant the underwriters 10 million shares. Additionally, T-Mobile intends to sell as many as 30 million common shares to a Delaware statutory trust.Five million shares will be sold to an entity controlled by Marcelo Claure, a SoftBank executive and T-Mobile board member, with funding coming from SoftBank. And T-Mobile will have the right to buy almost 20 million shares. Altogether, as many as 198.3 million shares owned by SoftBank will be transferred.SoftBank secured the stake in T-Mobile US just this year, after U.S. regulators approved the American wireless carrier’s $26.5 billion takeover of Sprint Corp. T-Mobile’s market value is about $132 billion.Read more: SoftBank’s Vision Fund Loses $17.7 Billion on WeWork, Uber (2)T-Mobile stock closed at $106.60 Monday in New York, putting the value of the 198 million shares at about $21 billion. They had been up 36% this year through Monday’s close.Both companies had said earlier they are discussing a possible deal. Even before the transaction, Deutsche Telekom AG was the controlling shareholder of T-Mobile due to how voting rights were structured following the Sprint deal.The stock offering, due to trade June 24, will be overseen by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. PJT Partners served as financial adviser to T-Mobile’s board. SoftBank said it will pay T-Mobile $300 million as part of the transaction and will cover all fees and expenses related to the deal.(Updates with SoftBank’s shares from the third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- InvestorPlace
The Smart Money Is Ignoring the Bad News for T-Mobile’s Stock
Since completing its acquisition of Sprint on April 1, T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) stock has been on fire.Source: r.classen / Shutterstock.com That's the way investment sites are spinning it. TMUS stock has broken out of its trading range and is at an all-time high.Things aren't that simple. It's true that T-Mobile shares are up 25%. But the average S&P 500 stock is up about 20.5%.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsWhat seems to be happening is that T-Mobile's valuation is catching up to new peers, Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T). T-Mobile is also being bid up because it's a "pure play" in wireless, while its rivals have gone to the dog track. Verizon, recall, bought Yahoo and America Online. AT&T took even bigger plunges, buying DirecTv and Time Warner.Does that make T-Mobile a better stock pick? Today's T-MobileThe next few months may answer a question that has dogged me for some time. Should Verizon and AT&T have left well enough alone?T-Mobile is now part of a three-cornered duopoly that dominates America's wireless market. Each of the three has about one-third of all subscribers. As part of its acquisition, T-Mobile has to divest some assets that are supposed to make Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) a strong fourth player. Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has also tried to sell plans, built on customer WiFi, as Xfinity Wireless. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) is in the mix with its re-seller, Google Fi.But make no mistake. This is a shared monopoly. How can you tell? T-Mobile's once go-getter C-suite is emptying out like a Broadway theater after the curtain goes down. Former CEO John Legere has left the building. So have his chief lieutenants. * 10 Robotics Stocks on the Technological Cutting Edge Here is another tell. After promising it would add thousands of jobs if it won Sprint, T-Mobile is now cutting thousands of jobs. AT&T is doing the same thing. The T-Mobile layoffs are just more startling because they go against explicit pre-merger promises. Karl Bode, a long-time telecom analyst who predicted in February that layoffs were coming, has been proven right again. Buy Now?In normal times, wireless is a good business to be in. During the March quarter, for instance, T-Mobile brought 8.5% of its $11.1 billion in revenue to the net income line. That's $1.10 per share. With the layoffs, a dividend might be coming.There are also events putting pressure on the stock, making now a good time to consider a long-term investment.Softbank (OTCMKTS:SFTBY), which was the controlling shareholder of Sprint, is looking to get out after its Vision Fund lost bagfuls of money backing such charmers as Uber (NYSE:UBER) and WeWork.Deutsche Telekom (OTCMKTS:DTEGY), which owns 43% of the new company, is currently able to vote Softbank's shares. It has a right of first refusal on the shares Softbank is selling, and is now negotiating a price to maintain control. Guggenheim recently downgraded TMUS stock to neutral, based partly on that selling pressure. The Bottom Line on TMUS StockYour best chance of getting into a pure wireless play may be now, as T-Mobile circles the wagons.The future looks promising. The company plans a fast build-out of its 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum for 5G service. T-Mobile now believes it could get up to 900,000 new postpaid subscriptions from the merger, six times its earlier projection. It's kicking Boost Mobile, the re-sale unit that's due to go to DISH, and cutting its value. It's selling $4 billion of new debt to make sure it has cash to execute its plans.All this while a leased fiber circuit failure resulted in a catastrophic network cascade June 15, after back-ups also failed. That puts even more pressure on TMUS stock. The current quarter, to be reported Aug. 5, may also be pressured by the pandemic.Yet the shares are rising. Some smart money is piling in. You might want to think about joining them.Dana Blankenhorn has been a financial and technology journalist since 1978. He is the author of the environmental thriller Bridget O'Flynn and the Bear, available at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned no shares in companies mentioned in this story. More From InvestorPlace * Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG * Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * The 1 Stock All Retirees Must Own * Look What America's Richest Family Is Investing in Now The post The Smart Money Is Ignoring the Bad News for T-Mobile's Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- FX Empire
Deutsche Telekom in Talks to Buy Out Shares in T-Mobile From Softbank
Deutsche Telekom announced that it is in talks to acquire stakes in its U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile from Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company Softbank.
- Reuters
D.Telekom: we will keep control of T-Mobile if Softbank sells shares
Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE> is in talks to buy out shares in its U.S. unit T-Mobile <TMUS.O> from Japan's Softbank <9984.T>, CEO Tim Hoettges said on Friday, noting that under a shareholder agreement it has the right of first refusal. Hoettges, answering a question at Deutsche Telekom's annual general meeting, said Softbank was seeking to sell down its stake due to "heightened liquidity needs arising from the demanding economic environment".
- Reuters
Deutsche Telekom targets U.S. top spot
Deutsche Telekom boss Tim Hoettges has his sights on becoming market leader in the United States, setting a high bar for U.S. unit T-Mobile after its $23 billion takeover of Sprint. "We will become No.1 in the United States," Hoettges said in a bullish speech to Deutsche Telekom's annual general meeting on Friday, held online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoettges also pledged that Deutsche Telekom would become the No.1 fibre-optic company in Germany and Europe as well as the leader in next-generation 5G networks.
- Reuters
Deutsche Telekom to keep grip on T-Mobile in chase for U.S. top spot
Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE> will retain control of T-Mobile <TMUS.O> should Japan's Softbank <9984.T> liquidate its stake, CEO Tim Hoettges said on Friday as he vowed to claim top spot in the U.S. market. Speaking at the German group's annual general meeting, Hoettges said that Softbank wants to reduce its 23% stake in U.S. operator T-Mobile to bolster its finances because of the demanding economic environment. Deutsche Telekom has the right of first refusal under a four-year shareholder pact that took effect when T-Mobile's $23 billion takeover of rival Sprint closed in April, he added.
- Moody's
T-Mobile USA, Inc. -- Moody's assigns Baa3 to T-Mobile's proposed senior secured notes
Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has assigned a Baa3 to T-Mobile USA, Inc.'s (T-Mobile) proposed senior secured notes (Secured Notes). The net proceeds from the sale of the Secured Notes will be used redeem one or more series of existing T-Mobile unsecured notes that are subject to redemption without payment of a make-whole redemption premium. The unsecured notes expected to be redeemed will include the 5.125% Senior Notes due 2025 held by Deutsche Telekom AG (DT, Baa1 negative), a 43.5% owner of the common stock of T-Mobile's parent, T-Mobile US, Inc. (T-Mobile US).
- Reuters
EU member states agree specs for coronavirus app interoperability
European Union member states have agreed technical standards for interoperability between smartphone apps that track the risk of coronavirus infections, a step that could help revive travel and tourism, the bloc's Commission said on Tuesday. "As we approach the travel season, it is important to ensure that Europeans can use the app from their own country wherever they are travelling in the EU," Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a statement. "Contact tracing apps can be useful to limit the spread of coronavirus, especially as part of national strategies to lift confinement measures," he added.
- Reuters
CORRECTED-German coronavirus smartphone tracing app goes live
Germany sought to mobilize the public on Tuesday to download a new smartphone app that seeks to help break the chain of coronavirus infections, one of several such apps in Europe that governments hope will revive travel and tourism. Germany follows European countries like Italy, Poland and Switzerland in launching an app based on technology from Apple and Alphabet's Google that protects privacy by storing Bluetooth logs securely on devices.
- TechCrunch
SoftBank confirms it may sell some of its T-Mobile stake
Bloomberg reported last month that SoftBank was nearing an agreement to sell about $20 billion of its T-Mobile U.S. shares to investors, including Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s controlling shareholder, in an effort to offset major losses from its investment business, including the Vision Fund. In today’s notice, SoftBank Group, which owns about 25% of T-Mobile U.S. shares, said it is exploring transactions that could include private placements or public offerings and transactions with T-Mobile or its shareholders, including Deutsche Telekom AG, or third parties.
- Bloomberg
SoftBank Confirms It Is Considering Deal to Sell T-Mobile Shares
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. said it is considering the sale of its T-Mobile US Inc. shares, confirming reports the Japanese company is nearing such a deal as part of its effort to sell about $41 billion in assets.SoftBank said it may sell some of its stake through private placements or public offerings, adding that there is no assurance a final deal will be reached. T-Mobile also confirmed SoftBank’s plan and wasn’t specific about the details, saying that SoftBank was exploring “one or more monetization transactions” involving the wireless carrier’s stock. People familiar with the matter said last month that SoftBank was closing in on an agreement to sell about $20 billion of its stock in T-Mobile, part of efforts to raise capital after record losses in its investment business.“These transactions may include one or more of: private placements or public offerings; privately negotiated transactions with T-Mobile or one or more stockholders of T-Mobile, including Deutsche Telekom, or third parties,” T-Mobile said Monday in a regulatory filing.SoftBank, which owns about 25% of T-Mobile US, is expected to sell a slice of that holding to Deutsche Telekom AG, giving the German co-owner a majority stake. SoftBank would then sell shares in a secondary offering to other investors and retain a smaller stake itself, a person familiar with the deliberations said previously.SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son acquired the stake in T-Mobile earlier this year, when U.S. regulators approved the sale of his Sprint Corp. to its wireless rival.He is currently selling tens of billions of dollars in assets to raise cash so he can buy back shares and pay down debt. Among his other prime assets are Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and SoftBank Corp., the Japanese wireless business.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
EXPLAINER-Europe steps up tech battle vs coronavirus with German app
Germany on Tuesday becomes the latest European country to launch a smartphone app that seeks to break the chain of coronavirus infection by tracking encounters between people and issuing a warning should one of them test positive. A growing number of countries in the region have opted to use Bluetooth short-range radio to measure the risk of exposure, after concluding that tracking people's movements using location data would be intrusive. European Union member states hope soon to agree a common approach for an international 'roaming' feature that could help revive travel and tourism.
- Reuters
Germany says coronavirus tracing app ready to go
Germany's smartphone app to trace coronavirus infections is ready to be launched this week, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Sunday. After delays to ensure the bluetooth technology would work at the correct distance, the government says the app will be a vital tool to help avoid a second wave of infections. "It's coming this week," Spahn told ARD television, but he declined to confirm German media reports that the app would be launched on Tuesday.
- Barrons.com
Trump’s Second-Term Prospects Have Long Been in Synch with Stocks. Now, Not So Much.
Last week the S&P 500 rose as the odds on the president winning re-election fell. That represents a potentially significant trend. As always, there are caveats.
- Reuters
France, Germany back European cloud computing 'moonshot'
France and Germany threw their weight on Thursday behind plans to create a cloud computing ecosystem that seeks to reduce Europe's dependence on Silicon Valley giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google. The project, dubbed Gaia-X, will establish common standards for storing and processing data on servers that are sited locally and comply with the European Union's strict laws on data privacy. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, speaking in Berlin, described Gaia-X as a "moonshot" that would help reassert Europe's technological sovereignty, and invited other countries and companies to join.
- Reuters
Europe pins hopes on smarter coronavirus contact tracing apps
MUEHLBACH AM MANHARTSBERG, Austria, June 4 (Reuters) - E uropean countries cautiously emerging from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic are looking to a second generation of contact tracing apps to help contain further outbreaks. The latest apps have big advantages over earlier ones as they work on Apple's iPhone, one of the most popular smartphones in Europe, and do not rely on centralized databases that could compromise privacy. Switzerland, Latvia and Italy have opted for Bluetooth short-range radio for their apps, based on technology from Apple and Google that securely logs exchanges on the smartphones of people who have been near each other.
- Bloomberg
Aircall Rides Work-From-Home Wave, Now Valued at $500 Million
(Bloomberg) -- Aircall, which makes cloud-based software that can help businesses create virtual call centers, said it raised $65 million in its latest funding round as a surge in remote working makes its products more popular.The startup, whose product can be used to add analysis, routing, contact sharing and customer management functions to voice calls, will use the funds to add about 150 employees and expand geographically, Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Anguelov said. The Paris-based company is now valued at about $500 million.Customers have needed to find ways to maintain customer service call centers while employees work remotely, leading to a surge in users, he said. New customers include food delivery startup DoorDash Inc. The company is also adding features to improve sales and service, such as a feature that analyzes the emotion in customers’ voices, he said.“Covid indirectly created a big move toward the cloud,” Anguelov said in an interview. “Decisions were made fast during that period.”Remote working startups have experienced a boom in funding. The valuation of Monday.com, an Israeli startup that makes software to help employees work remotely, jumped to $2.7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Deel, a payroll company for remote workers, recently raised $14 million.Deutsche Telekom AG’s venture capital arm led Aircall’s funding round, which also included a new investment from Swisscom AG and fresh funds from existing investors Balderton Capital and Draper Esprit. It brings the company’s total funding to $100 million.Subscription-based Aircall, which gets about one-third of its business from North America, will seek to expand in Europe and North America this year and in Asia Pacific toward the end of 2020, Anguelov said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Former HTC Boss Plots Return To Spotlight With 5G VR Headset
(Bloomberg) -- Peter Chou, the man who led HTC Corp. through its most prosperous years as an Android phone maker, is returning to consumer electronics with the unveiling of a new virtual reality headset, platform and company.Called XRSpace, the project has been in the works for three years and its centerpiece is a mobile VR headset equipped with fifth-generation wireless networking and over three hours of battery life. Partnering with Deutsche Telekom AG and Chunghwa Telecom Co., XRSpace is also building the VR platform on which services, games and social activities can be accessed and experienced.Priced at $599, the XRSpace headset has a high cost of entry, but the company envisions bundling it with carriers’ 5G service packages or in other forms for educational institutions. After its home market of Taiwan, it’ll look to expand to the U.S. and Europe, Chou said in an interview with Bloomberg News, with the rest of Asia to follow.Chou’s headset is the latest in a long line of devices like Facebook Inc.’s Oculus Rift, which have tried to bring VR into the mainstream without much success so far. The XRSpace gadget is still months away from store shelves and few have had a chance to test or even view it. But the entrepreneur says he’s already signed up 40 to 50 apps for his VR platform.XRSpace’s ambition is to come up with uses for the 5G networks that carriers are rolling out globally.“5G is coming. It feels like 2002, when we first had 2.5G data networks and the first smartphones like the O2 XDA started coming out,” Chou said. “Today, the smartphone experience of togetherness is primitive” because it fails to capture the full range of human expression. XRSpace’s headset uses cameras to pick up hand gestures and track the wearer’s motions, and it creates a lifelike avatar from a selfie. Chou promised it’ll let users perform real-world actions like shaking hands or shooting a basketball in a natural way.The XRSpace founder quit HTC after the popularity of its smartphones waned, but now he’s hoping VR will help a comeback.To build its virtual world, XRSpace has been designing public and private spaces for users to inhabit and even creating virtual stadiums where sports fans can gather together for a shared viewing of a ballgame. The coronavirus outbreak has triggered an uptick in interest in shared remote experiences, as signaled by rapper Travis Scott’s virtual concert in the game Fortnite and Sony Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Kenichiro Yoshida expressing interest in streaming live concerts to the company’s PlayStation VR headset.Read more: Fortnite, Rappers and the Billion-Dollar Pandemic Gaming BoomThe pandemic was initially an obstacle for XRSpace, whose launch had been planned for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, one of the first global events to be canceled by the spread of the virus. Chou said that manufacturing was set back by roughly two months because of it, and the XRSpace headset is now expected to launch in the third quarter of this year, starting with Taiwan where the company has the most partnerships lined up.But the upside for XRSpace, according to Head of Content Kurt Liu, is that many more interested parties -- such as educational institutions asking about distance learning and collaboration tools -- have been reaching out. Liu’s team has been working with hundreds of developers since last year and already has more than 40 apps embedded in the platform, he said. Those include games as well as wellness and relaxation applications, for which the company has recruited health care experts with decades of experience.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
