Elliott Takes Deutsche Telekom Stake, Opposes $300B T-Mobile Deal

Of the €23.3 billion in adjusted EBITDA Deutsche Telekom reported for the first half of 2026, €15.7 billion came from America. The business producing two-thirds of group profit is T-Mobile US; the stake in it is 54.3%.

Tim Höttges has been trying to close that gap since April. On September 2 Bloomberg reported that Elliott Investment Management has built a position. It wants the buyout dropped in favour of buybacks.

The size of the holding is unknown: German law triggers disclosure only at 3% of voting rights.

A Plan That Started in April and Stopped in July

The idea surfaced in April 2026. Bloomberg reported Deutsche Telekom was weighing a full combination with T-Mobile US: the world's largest wireless operator by market value, at roughly $300 billion.

It stalled in late July. Semafor reported that T-Mobile's American executives no longer supported it. Large holders disliked a swap into a slower-growing European parent, and regulators were the second reason.

The regulator was CFIUS. Semafor reported approval would likely require revenue T-Mobile earns in America to be "reinvested in or otherwise remain in the country".

That condition aimed at the deal's only real prize. At his August 6 briefing Höttges set a test:

"Wir werden keine Transaktion wegen ihrer Größe, ihrer Schlagzeile oder ihrer strategischen Eleganz tätigen"

The same day he raised the buyback by €3 billion, to €5 billion.

A Preference, Not an Instrument

Publicly, nothing: a Bloomberg report sourced to unnamed people conveys a preference for buybacks over a merger. A preference is not a demand and a demand is not a binding act — no filed stake, no board seat, no motion on any agenda. At a German company 3% is where a holder becomes visible; the right to call a meeting starts at 5%.

The tools that could stop the merger belong to others: T-Mobile's non-controlling vote closed that gate in July, and CFIUS is a real constraint. Elliott is pushing on a jammed door, moving the argument to where the money goes.

The Arithmetic of Consolidation

Own 54.3% and accounting rules have you fully consolidate the company: the €15.7 billion of T-Mobile EBITDA is the whole business, not your share of it. Buying the remaining 45.7% changes group revenue and EBITDA not at all. A purchase north of $90 billion buys a subtraction at the bottom of the income statement, not growth at the top.

That is Elliott's arithmetic (What Is Valuation?): the company's own stock sells profit more cheaply than a minority stake it does not control. Net debt is 2.68 times EBITDA against a self-imposed ceiling of 2.75 — headroom of 0.07 turns.

The Real Prize Was Cash, and That Is Where the Obstacle Sat

The case for the merger lived in cash, not profit. Deutsche Telekom reports all of T-Mobile's EBITDA, but the money reaches it only as a dividend. On Semafor's figures, T-Mobile produced roughly $18 billion of adjusted free cash flow last year and paid out more than $2 billion.

Eighteen in the statements, two in the account.

Full ownership would close that gap (What Is Cash Flow?), and the CFIUS signal landed exactly there. American revenue kept in America fences off cross-border cash, leaving a minority slice yielding 4% to 5%.

The Free Route: T-Mobile's Own Buybacks

Another path has been working for years: every share T-Mobile cancels shrinks the count, so Deutsche Telekom's percentage rises on its own. The stake fell to 43% in 2020 after the Sprint merger and SoftBank's entry, reached 50.2% by April 2023 on the buyback launched in 2022, and is 54.3% today.

Retire 5% of the shares and 54.3% becomes 54.3/95, or 57.2%, without paying anything — precisely the route from 43% to 54.3% over eleven years.

The German state and the KfW development bank together hold more than 28%. That is a decisive bloc in any argument that reaches a vote, and why Elliott campaigns through the press.

What the Market Said

The shares opened 1.5% higher in Frankfurt on September 3 and led the DAX, the Tradegate pre-market gain reaching 2%. T-Mobile closed the prior New York session up 2.09% at $185.97.

The information is in how small the move was: a shareholder able to obstruct a $300 billion deal moves the stock 1.5%. The market was not pricing the merger — Semafor's July report had removed it, and Elliott added confirmation, not a new possibility.

T-Mobile trades roughly 28% below its 52-week high of $256.69 and Deutsche Telekom is down 7% to 9% over twelve months: both sides have grown cheaper.

What Is Left

No registered stake, no published demand, no motion to vote on — a closed door knocked on once more. If Elliott's holding crosses 3% it becomes visible that day. The pace of the remaining €5 billion buyback shows which way the company leans; and if T-Mobile keeps retiring shares, the stake grows without anyone paying.

This article draws on Bloomberg's September 2 report and the Reuters and dpa-AFX write-ups that carried it, Semafor's July 31 report, Deutsche Telekom's first-half 2026 results presentation, and price and market-capitalization records from market data providers. The size of Elliott's stake has not been publicly disclosed; claims about it rest on press reporting sourced to unnamed people. The earnings-yield figures are approximations calculated from published numbers.

Correction (September 13, 2026): prose tightened for rhythm; figures and sources unchanged.