The Financial Times has said that Verizon and AT&T are collectively preparing to purchase the European carrier Vodafone for approximately $245 billion. This equates to the two companies offering $3.93 per share that Vodafone has, meaning a 40 percent increase on their current value.
The three carriers are ranked by Wireless Intelligence as the second, third and fourth largest carriers in the world: Verizon, Vodafone and AT&T, respectively. While the deal is reported to give Verizon a 45 percent stake in the company, AT&T would be getting the operations outside of the United States, which equals Vodafone's majority customer base out of the 403 million subscribers globally.