Vodafone Company

Back when wireless meant radio and mobile telephones were as unwieldy as Maxwell Smart's shoe, Chris Gent was already convinced that, whatever you called them, portable phones were the future in telecommunications. Gent, chief executive of Vodafone Group, is still looking ahead with his company's successful bid to purchase AirTouch Communications Inc. of San Francisco. The $62-billion acquisition would make it the world's largest mobile phone enterprise.

British mobile phone operator Vodafone Group, attempting to end speculation about the future of its U.S. operations, said Wednesday that it had no plans to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless. Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company, said it would not exercise its rights to sell the stake to Verizon Communications Inc., which owns the remaining 55% of Verizon Wireless.

Britain's Vodafone AirTouch said it agreed to pay $764 million for U.S.-based CommNet Cellular Inc., adding 360,000 customers in nine Western states. Vodafone AirTouch will also assume debt of about $600 million in the purchase of CommNet from Blackstone Group, a New York-based private equity fund. The deal comes just weeks after Vodafone and San Francisco-based AirTouch completed their merger, forming the world's biggest mobile phone company.

Vodafone Group said Monday that it was not planning to bid for Verizon Communications Inc., responding to a report that it was considering a $160-billion offer. The Financial Times' FT Alphaville blog said the British wireless telecom company was considering such a bid -- which would consolidate ownership of their wireless joint venture -- prompting Verizon's shares to jump 12% in pre-market trading. The stock gave up most of the gain after Vodafone's denial, and closed up $1 at $42.76.

Mannesmann's supervisory board Sunday unanimously rejected a takeover bid from Britain's Vodafone AirTouch, setting the stage for the largest hostile corporate takeover attempt in history. But in an apparent softening of his earlier stance, Mannesmann Chief Executive Klaus Esser said his group wanted to maintain fruitful links with Vodafone in lucrative joint ventures in Germany, Italy and France.

Britain's Vodafone Group, which would become the world's largest wireless company after it buys AirTouch Communications Inc., said second-half net income rose 33% as its overseas customers more than doubled. Vodafone's foreign units, which stretch from Australia to Germany, have become an important source of profit as price cuts and the cost of adding subscribers trim margins. The planned $74.2-billion acquisition of AirTouch would further strengthen Vodafone's international operations.

The complex merger talks that continue to swirl around AirTouch Communications Inc. will produce just the first of many deals destined to dramatically reshape the U.S. wireless communications business, analysts say. A flurry of deals in 1999--starting with the near-certain sale of San Francisco-based AirTouch--will ultimately leave the wireless market dominated by four to six national carriers, industry experts predict.

Rejected but undeterred, Vodafone AirTouch is crafting a fresh proposal to acquire Germany's Mannesmann and hopes to make a sweetened offer by the end of the week, a senior executive of the British company said. Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone business, would not indicate how much it would be willing to pay in its second effort to woo Mannesmann.

Europe's telecommunications titans continue to struggle with the continent's steep downturn, with two reporting steep losses Tuesday while two others saw their credit ratings cut. London-based Vodafone Group, Europe's largest mobile phone company, said its fiscal first-half loss more than doubled to $14 billion as it wrote down the value of acquisitions from a spending spree.

Vodafone Group, Europe's largest wireless phone company, will cut as many as 650 jobs from all parts of its British business as customer growth slows. The job cuts, which include 10% of senior management, will cost Vodafone $20 million in severance pay and other expenses. The cuts will save the company tens of millions of dollars.

Verizon Communications Inc. said Tuesday that it had shut the door, for now, on an effort to buy out Vodafone Group's 45% stake in their mobile phone joint venture. Chairman Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon said during an earnings conference call that Vodafone Chief Executive Arun Sarin had told him last week that he was "extremely pleased" with the growth of Verizon Wireless.

The Twentieth Century Fox studio, a veteran of the big screen and the TV screen, is about to break into an entirely new realm: the really little screen, the kind that comes on a cellphone. In what appeared to be the first arrangement of its kind, Twentieth Century Fox said Wednesday that it would create a unique series of one-minute dramas based on its hit show "24" exclusively for a new high-speed wireless service being offered by Vodafone, the world's biggest cellphone company.

Vodafone Group, which this month lost a bid to buy AT&T Wireless Services Inc., will renegotiate its partnership with and remain a minority shareholder in Verizon Wireless. Chief Executive Arun Sarin said he would open talks over the dividend agreement with Verizon Wireless parent Verizon Communications Inc. and other issues, including a wireless partnership in Italy. The Verizon accord that expires in March 2005 was worth about $1 billion to British Vodafone last year.

Days after losing a bidding war for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Europe's biggest mobile phone operator, Vodafone Group, said it saw no other likely takeover targets in the United States and might even consider selling its 45% stake in U.S. market leader Verizon Wireless. Vodafone Chief Executive Arun Sarin discussed his company's American strategy in the wake of Tuesday's agreement by Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless to pay nearly $41 billion for AT&T Wireless.

Cingular Wireless and Britain's Vodafone Group both boosted their bids to $38 billion for AT&T Wireless Services Inc. on Monday, as the board of the third-largest U.S. mobile phone provider considered which company would ultimately buy it, according to people familiar with the talks. Vodafone matched Cingular's offers at each stage of the process, a source said on condition of anonymity.

AT&T Wireless asked rival bidders Vodafone Group and Cingular Wireless on Sunday to sweeten offers worth about $35 billion, sources familiar with the talks said. Vodafone had been expected to submit an offer of about $35 billion, or about $12.50 a share, that would trump an informal $30-billion bid from Cingular, the No. 2 wireless carrier in the U.S. controlled by SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.

British mobile phone operator Vodafone Group, attempting to end speculation about the future of its U.S. operations, said Wednesday that it had no plans to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless. Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company, said it would not exercise its rights to sell the stake to Verizon Communications Inc., which owns the remaining 55% of Verizon Wireless.

British mobile phone giant Vodafone Group tried to douse speculation it had decided to launch a bid of around $35 billion for U.S. rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc., reiterating it was still considering its options. As talk swirled that Vodafone had called a board meeting ahead of today's bid deadline, the world's largest cellphone group said only that it continued to explore whether a deal with AT&T Wireless was in investors' interest.

Vodafone Group confirmed that it might seek to acquire AT&T Wireless Services Inc., a move that would require the British cellphone company to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. AT&T Wireless, the third-largest cellular provider in the U.S., put itself up for sale last month.