Techmeme: AT&T Buying T-Mobile USA In $39 Billion Deal (Dan Frommer/SAI)

10:45 PM ET, March 20, 2011

Top Items:

Om Malik / GigaOM:

In AT&T & T-Mobile Merger, Everybody Loses — The lull of my lazy, rainy weekend was broken by the news that AT&T plans to acquire T-Mobile USA for a whopping $39 billion in cash and stock. Who wins and who loses in this deal? It's hard to find winners, apart from AT&T and T-Mobile shareholders.

Discussion: Wi-Fi Networking News, Fortune, mocoNews, mocoNews, Howard Lindzon and Daring Fireball

Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:

AT&T Buying T-Mobile USA In $39 Billion Deal — AT&T just announced a deal to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash and stock deal worth $39 billion. — The deal would make AT&T the nation's largest wireless carrier by a wide margin, so it will probably face significant government scrutiny …

Business Wire:

AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom — Provides Fast, Efficient and Certain Solution to Impending Spectrum Exhaust Challenges Facing AT&T and T-Mobile USA in Key Markets Due to Explosive Demand for Mobile Broadband — Enhances Network Capacity, Output and Quality in Near Term for Both Companies' Customers

T-Mobile Newsroom:

Q&A: More Information About AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile USA — An agreement was announced under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA. The agreement is the first step in a process that, including regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months.

Discussion: Fortune, Mobilized, TmoNews, CNET News, MobileWhack, PhoneArena, BerryReview.com, Android and Me, Electronista and Crave

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Exclusive: T-Mobile USA CEO to employees: Sale to AT&T the ‘best possible solution’ — The proposed sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T, announced this afternoon, surprised not only the industry but also many of T-Mobile's employees. In an email to those employees this afternoon, Philipp Humm …

Discussion: Mobilized, paidContent, TechCrunch, Xconomy and Electronista, Thanks:rawmeet

Ina Fried / Mobilized: Sprint: AT&T's T-Mobile Buy Would “Dramatically Alter” Market

Ina Fried / Mobilized:
AT&T's President on Why T-Mobile Deal Should Pass Muster and Won't be a Customer Nightmare

Discussion: VentureBeat, FierceWireless, FierceWireless and Sidecut Reports

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
T-Mobile: We Were Totally Kidding About AT&T's Crappy Network!

Discussion: Mobilized, Epicenter, CNET News, techblog.dallasnews.com and Fortune

Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
AT&T-Mobile: Here Are The Biggest Winners And Losers

Discussion: Light Reading and Gizmodo

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile will test antitrust law

Discussion: GigaOM, Mobilized and @dangillmor

Vlad Savov / Engadget:
T-Mobile answers its customers' most Frequently Asked Question: no iPhone

Discussion: Fortune, @asymco, TmoNews and HowardForums

Marco Arment / Marco.org:

Why the Quick Bar ("dickbar") is still so offensive — Twitter's official iPhone app, formerly Loren Brichter's Tweetie and an otherwise awesome client, got a lot of negative reactions from the recent addition of the Quick Bar, a mandatory trending-topics banner on top of the tweet list.

Discussion: Jeff Rock, @jeffitup, TechCrunch and @fionasrotties

Snaptu blog:

We've agreed to be acquired by Facebook! — The Snaptu team is excited to announce today that we recently agreed to be acquired by Facebook. — Our goal when we founded Snaptu in 2007 was to provide useful and innovative services to the 95 percent of mobile users that don't have access to advanced smart phones.

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Inside Facebook, All Facebook, Mashable!, mocoNews, PC Magazine, VC Cafe, VentureBeat, Yahoo! News, CNET News, Friending Facebook Blog, MediaMemo and Electronista, Thanks:sidharthdassani

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: Facebook Acquires Snaptu (For An Estimated $60 - $70 Million)

Discussion: SAI, Pulse2, GeekWire and The Next Web

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:

Google accuses China of hacking Gmail — Chinese government's crackdown on activists thought to be behind what Google calls ‘politically motivated attacks’ — Google has accused the Chinese government of interfering with its popular Gmail email system. The move follows extensive attempts …

Discussion: Electronista

Rupal Parekh / AdAge:

Groupon CEO: We Placed Too Much Trust in Agency for Super Bowl Ads — Andrew Mason Says Group-Buying Site ‘Turned Off Part of Its Brain’ When Working With CP&B in Aim to Be ‘Edgy’ — Talk about adding insult to injury. — As if CP&B's breakup last week with one of its biggest clients …

Discussion: @bill_gross

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

An Illustrated Guide To Searching For Shared, Tweeted & “Realtime” Images — Looking for images that are being shared and posted in realtime? That image search space has gotten more competitive, as Nachofoto reenters the field. Below, what it offers, along with general realtime image searching tips using …

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