Sprint Files Suit Against AT&T T-Mobile Merger

zacharye writes with a news post in BGR. From the article: "Sprint ... announced that it has filed a lawsuit with a federal court in the U.S. District of Columbia in an effort to block AT&T's planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. The suit is related to the Department of Justice's lawsuit, which was filed on August 31st. 'Sprint opposes AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile,' Sprint's vice president of litigation Suzan Haller said. 'With today's legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.'"

Re:ATT

[Fjandr]

The Justice Department has not blocked the merger. They filed suit with the goal of blocking the merger. They can still lose, and the merger could still go through.

Re:I don't see how it is illegal.

[dkleinsc]

Is it now illegal for a company to simply become too big?

Yes, as long as you understand that by "now" you mean since 1890 [wikipedia.org], and specifically this kind of merger since 1914 [wikipedia.org]. Both those laws were created because of large firms engaged in various forms of price gouging and other efforts to artificially inflate prices on commonly used goods such as gasoline and steel.

Re:Wow...

[gregrah]

My relatively small company of about 300 employees has a dedicated "legal counsel" who ranks as a VP - and she's well worth whatever amount we pay her. Part of her job description includes handling an litigation that we may be involved in.

Not sure why it would surprise you at all that a company as large as sprint would also have someone dedicated to legal issues, or even specifically to litigation.