Macquarie Raises Sprint to Neutral in Light of Talks With T-Mobile

Macquarie Research’s Amy Yong raised Sprint's rating to neutral amid reports of renewed merger discussions with T-Mobile (see 1804100047). T-Mobile is partially owned by Deutsche Telekom and Sprint by SoftBank and “the question of who retains control is the biggest hurdle,” Yang wrote investors Wednesday. “SoftBank affirmed that Sprint remains a key asset to its portfolio and that it would want a majority stake.” Last year, talks collapsed because SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son wanted to retain control of the combined company (see 1711080055). For Sprint especially, ‘time is of the essence,” the analyst said. “We believe SoftBank is running out of options.”