Elliott builds stake in Deutsche Telekom and warns against $300B T‑Mobile merger

Activist investor Elliott Management has built a stake in Deutsche Telekom and is pushing the German carrier to abandon its roughly $300 billion plan to fully combine with its US arm, T-Mobile US, Bloomberg reported on September 2, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. The size of Elliott's position has not been disclosed; under German securities rules, investors only have to file once a holding reaches 3% of a company's shares, so the market may not learn Elliott's true stake until a future filing. Elliott is instead urging Deutsche Telekom to pursue larger share buybacks as a more direct way to return value to shareholders.

Importantly, this is not a merger of two independent, equally-sized companies: Deutsche Telekom already owns roughly 53% of T-Mobile US. What's under discussion is a full combination, reportedly structured as a new holding company that would make a stock bid for the shares of both businesses, jointly owned by both sets of existing investors. Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges has been pursuing that full combination since at least April 2026, arguing it would create the world's largest wireless operator by market value. Elliott's move puts it directly at odds with that plan.

Elliott's opposition also lands after T-Mobile US's own executives had already cooled on the deal. A Semafor report from late July said T-Mobile US management had told Deutsche Telekom it no longer supported the roughly $300 billion merger, citing shareholder concerns and regulatory risk. Elliott's newly disclosed stake adds activist pressure to what was already a wobbling proposal, giving Deutsche Telekom's board another reason to reconsider the transaction.

Elliott has a long history of pushing capital-intensive companies toward buybacks, asset sales, or other value-creation moves rather than large, complex combinations, and a stake in Deutsche Telekom fits that pattern. If Elliott can rally other shareholders around its buyback thesis, the proposed full combination could be delayed, scaled back, or abandoned altogether, which would leave TMUS largely under Deutsche Telekom's existing majority ownership rather than folded into a newly merged entity. Investors should watch for any DT boardroom response, updated guidance from Höttges, and whether other shareholders publicly back Elliott's position. This is not investment advice; the transaction remains unannounced and unconfirmed by either company.

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