The wireless industry, as well as other sectors of the economy, woke Wednesday morning to a world of uncertainty in the way of newly minted President-elect Donald Trump.
The election of either Hillary Clinton or Trump wasn’t expected to heal a severely divided United States, nor did many expect the market to come away from the election with any certainties. That said, Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip style and lack of definite fiscal policy seemed to leave Wall Street in upheaval. Following the announcement of Trump’s victory, the Dow Industrial Average was down 5.5 percent.
Cooler heads prevailed by Wednesday morning, with the Dow picking up most of the previous nights losses. By 3:37 ET, the Dow was actually up 1.5 percent.
In a statement released Wednesday, Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam asserted that the United States had “spent the last 18 months destructively searching for things to divide us.”
McAdam called for unity, asking that the United States focus on “building and rebuilding infrastructure and promoting the deployment of a digital superhighway to support game-changing innovation that makes lives better.”
McAdam has shown little love for either candidate, saying at one point that the election made him feel like putting his head through a wall. McAdam complained that Trump would be “unpredictable” and Clinton would be more of the same.
AT&T may be feeling the uncertainty of Trump’s election as it considers a way forward for its proposed $106 billion acquisition of Time Warner.
Trump has been outspoken about his opposition to the deal.
In a statement released by his campaign back in October, Trump’s vindictive nature seemed to rear its head. The statement called AT&T “the original and abusive ‘Ma Bell’ telephone monopoly” and asserted that Time Warner was owner of the “wildly anti-Trump CNN.”
“Donald Trump would never approve such a deal because it concentrates too much power in the hands of the too and powerful few,” the statement said.
A report from S&P Global Intelligence posited that Trump’s stance on media mega-deals could inhibit some companies from striking deals.
But not everyone was pessimistic about Trump’s stance on mergers and acquisitions.
According to a report on the Kansas City Star’s website, investors seemed to be speculating that a possible merger of Sprint and T-Mobile could be in the cards again.
Shares of Sprint jumped more than 11 percent Wednesday to $7 in mid-day trading.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure was a strong supporter of Clinton. Claure held fundraisers for Clinton and called Trump simply too risky.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere likely isn’t in any better graces with the President Elect. Legere and Trump had a war of words last year when then candidate Trump took Legere to task for T-Mobile customers getting poor service in Trump’s apartment buildings.
Things will likely come into better focus in the coming weeks and months leading up to Trump’s January 20 inauguration. Until then, the only certainty appears to be uncertainty.
