U.S. District Judge To Rule In Favor Of T-Mobile-Sprint Merger : Reports

(RTTNews) - A US district judge is expected to rule in favor of T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) and Sprint corp. (S) in a lawsuit that attempted to stop their merger. The decision is expected to be made public Tuesday, according to reports citing people familiar with the matter.

S closed Monday regular trading at $4.80, down $0.13 or 2.64 percent. But, in the after-hours trade, the stock gained $3.30 or 68.75 percent.

TMUS closed regular trading at $84.53, down $0.91 or 1.07 percent. However, the stock gained $6.22 or 7.36 percent.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved the T-Mobile-Sprint merger with certain conditions in November 2019. The deal also received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.

But, several state attorneys general and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit aiming to block the merger. The states argued that combining the two companies was not in the public's interest as it would reduce competition and lead to higher smartphone bills.

In 2018, T-Mobile and Sprint announced plans to merge in an all-stock deal worth $26 billion. The deal values Sprint at $59 billion, while the combined company would be worth $146 billion. T-Mobile's John Legere would serving as CEO of the combined company and Mike Sievert would continue to operate as COO.