Verizon completes buy of Alltel...so...UPDATE: Verizon Wireless on Friday [1/9/2009] completed its $5.9 billion purchase of Little Rock, Ark.-based Alltel Corp., making Verizon the nation's largest mobile phone company. Verizon said Friday it will also take on $22.2 billion in Alltel debt. The buyout is expected to result in the loss of many of the best-paying positions among the nearly 3,000 employees at Alltel's Little Rock headquarters. Verizon picks up Alltel's 12.9 million customers, though 2.1 million of them are in territory that will be sold. Verizon will have 83.7 million total customers before the divestiture. Verizon says Alltel customers do not need to take any action at present, though they will soon receive a letter explaining the transition. Most will be able to keep their same handsets as Verizon and Alltel are on the same system. Alltel customers will see Verizon begin to place its own brand name starting in the second quarter, a process that will continue through the third quarter, Verizon said. As the transition is being made, Alltel's retail stores will remain open. Verizon Wireless announced in June it would buy Alltel. The FCC approved the purchase in November after the Justice Department gave its approval in October. Verizon says the purchase will bring more than $9 billion in synergies from capital and operating expenses, after costs.(Associated Press), no word how this will affect the sponsorship of the #12 Alltel Penske Racing Dodge of David Stremme, Penske Racing has said in the past, they were good with Alltel thru 2009.(1-15-2009)
UPDATE: Last night (January 14, 2009) on “Dialed In” on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, host Claire B. Lang spoke with Penkse Racing president Tim Cindric about Verizon’s purchase of Alltel Corp. and what effect it might have on Alltel’s sponsorship of the #12 Alltel Penske Racing Dodge of David Stremme.
Host Claire B. Lang: “You’re headed to Daytona. Alltel, at this point, is on the car?”
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric: “Certainly as we work through this I wouldn’t speculate in what form or how or how it is all going to turn out because we really haven’t gotten to the point where it makes sense to really speculate on how it’s going to look, how we’re going to present ourselves, what our strategy is going to be. Because we’re looking for some direction and in those situations sometimes you have to sit on the sidelines a little bit to understand exactly what all that means. And right now we’re just starting to get the focus of the people who make those kinds of decisions.”
Lang: “So the contract runs and stays?”
Cindric: “They (Verizon) take on the obligations of the people they acquire, I guess, and obviously they have stipulations with how they have to do their business when these things occur and I don’t pretend to understand it all.”
Lang: “You know for sure that NASCAR’s not going to let you take Alltel off the car and put Verizon on.”
Cindric: “That’s what I’ve understood. We’ve all watched how it all played out in the past. Anything that we do we certainly do in step with everybody else.”
Cindric: “The good thing with David [Stremme] is he’s really focused on driving the race car and letting the other things around him take their course. And to him, however it sorts out, he said to me, ‘As long as I know that I’ve got the best people behind me and the best efforts going forward the rest of it will sort itself out. I’m just fortunate to have this opportunity.’ That’s really the approach that when you hear that it’s refreshing because you know you have someone that has focus.”(SIRIUS NASCAR Radio)(1-15-2009)