Exclusive: AT&T Wireless buyout summary
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
bq. 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
bq. 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
bq. 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
bq. 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.
