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Shares of T-Mobile fell as much as 2.9% Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported that its CEO John Legere was in talks to take the helm at WeWork.
If Legere does take the top spot at WeWork, it could disrupt T-Mobile’s pending merger with Sprint. In April, T-Mobile agreed to acquire Sprint for $26.5 billion, to create a company that would rival Verizon Communications and AT&T, the industry leaders.
Shares of Sprint also fell as much as 3.68% on the news.
The merger between the third- and fourth-largest US wireless companies cleared a hurdle in July when the Justice Department approved the acquisition. Both companies agreed to sell parts of each business to Dish, the pay-TV operator, to secure approval for the merger.
The deal could stumble without Legere at the helm of T-Mobile, as he’s turned the company around and spearheaded the takeover of Sprint, according to the Journal.
Legere might not take the CEO position at WeWork, the Journal reported, as he stands to receive a bonus if the takeover of Sprint is completed. He’s also one of several candidates in talks with the company, and no decisions have been made yet, according to CNBC.
WeWork is looking for a CEO to take control after the swift departure of co-founder Adam Neumann, who was replaced by co-CEOs Sebastian Gunningham and Artie Minson in September.
WeWork, T-Mobile, and Sprint all have ties to SoftBank, the Japanese firm that took control of WeWork after its disastrous IPO attempt in August. SoftBank is a majority owner of Sprint, and Marcelo Claure, SoftBank’s COO, is a chairman on both Sprint and WeWork’s boards.
T-Mobile is up 25% year to date.
