Exclusive: AT&T Wireless buyout summary

Feb 11 2004 - 11:32 PM ET | AT&T Wireless, Cingular, DoCoMo, T-Mobile, Vodafone

Update: AT&T Wireless has been bought by Cingular for $41 billion.

By this Friday, all offers for AT&T Wireless must be made. There have been a ton of reports on who's doing what, so we've compiled the best from the last few weeks to get you up to speed:

Cingular

Still seen as the leader in the bid-war. Cingular is the MobileTracker pick for AT&T Wireless' future owner. Reports have been swirling for months on this one. The last offer we heard was for $11 a share, but AWE has gone up to $11.50 in the meantime (up > 60% in the last 3-months).

Vodafone

Rumors popped up in December that the Euro giant would like to swallow up AT&T Wireless. The last report was that Vodafone is willing to spend up to $40 billion ($10 billion over the market cap). However, many think that was just a ploy to jack the price up for Cingular. An even more wild rumor is that Vodafone will swallow up Verizon, sell off everything but the wireless sector, and thus gain control of the nation's largest wireless carrier.

T-Mobile

Although T-Mobile was in the buyout rumors before, it's a no-go this time around. The carrier is leaving AWE up to the big boys.

NTT DoCoMo

Still rumored to be bidding, but not much else is known. The Japanese company already owns a 16% stake in AT&T Wireless, so it's well positioned.