T-Mobile Hires Corey Lewandowski to Help Sell Merger to Trump
T-Mobile has hired former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to help the company gain regulatory approval for its $23 billion merger with Sprint. The looming merger has been blocked several times by regulators already because it would not only eliminate anywhere from 10 to 30,000 jobs but would dramatically reduce incentive for the remaning three large wireless carriers to seriously compete on price. As with most megamergers, the CEOs for Sprint and T-Mobile have spent the last few weeks trying to claim the exact opposite.
Politico reports that Lewandowski is advising T-Mobile on how to win approval for its proposed merger with Sprint through Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm Lewandowski has tried to deny any connection with in the past:
quote:
T-Mobile hired Turnberry last year, but Lewandowski has denied any connection to the firm in the past. “I have nothing to do with Turnberry Solutions,” he told POLITICO in September.
But T-Mobile said on Friday that Lewandowski was advising the firm on the proposed merger as part of its work with Turnberry.
“Corey Lewandowski is now affiliated with that firm and they have offered perspective to T-Mobile on a variety of topics, including the pending transaction,” T-Mobile said in a statement.
While the Trump FCC is seen as a rubber stamp for large carriers under Ajit Pai, approval from the DOJ remains a wild card; largely thanks to DOJ antitrust boss Makan Delrahim's decision to sue to stop the AT&T Time Warner merger.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/TMobile-Hires-Corey-Lewandowski-to-Help-Sell-Merger-to-Trump-141918
