Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile Stake Climbs To 55.9% Without Buying A Single Share
T-Mobile's buybacks shrank the share count, lifting the German parent's ownership to 55.9% from 592,065,875 shares.
Deutsche Telekom now controls 55.9% of T-Mobile US, and the reason is T-Mobile's own buybacks, which shrank the share count, according to a Schedule 13D amendment filed Thursday. The German group and three subsidiaries report beneficial ownership of 592,065,875 shares.
Buybacks do the work
The filing, Amendment No. 36 to a Schedule 13D first filed on May 10, 2013, says it was made to reflect fewer T-Mobile shares outstanding after a series of repurchases by the company. That drop raised the percentage the reporting persons own.
The 55.9% is measured against shares outstanding as of October 23, 2026, as T-Mobile reported in its 10-Q filed October 28, 2026. The reporting persons are Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile Global Zwischenholding, T-Mobile Global Holding and Deutsche Telekom Holding B.V.
The filing says none of the reporting persons effected any transaction in the stock in the 60 days before the filing, except as previously reported.
Where the shares sit
Of the total, 582,065,875 shares are held by Deutsche Telekom Holding B.V. The other 10,000,000 are held by Signal Bright, a SoftBank Group subsidiary, and are subject to the Proxy and to call options Signal Bright granted to Deutsche Telekom. The Signal Bright count rests on information from SoftBank.
Three members of Deutsche Telekom's supervisory board also hold small T-Mobile stakes: Chairman Frank Appel owns 190 shares, Thomas Dohmke 25 and Natalie Knight 1,600. Each is under 0.01% of the shares outstanding.
The company and the merger talk
T-Mobile US sells wireless phone and broadband service plus devices, under brands including T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Mint Mobile. It served 142.4 million customers as of December 31, 2025. Its market value was $157.4 billion as of Thursday's report.
News reports in recent weeks said a full merger of Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile was under consideration. Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar, that those plans are on hold for now. JPMorgan said lingering uncertainty over a possible combination weighs on Deutsche Telekom's share price.
Deutsche Telekom's stake moved because the denominator shrank, not because it bought more stock.
Sources
- SCHEDULE 13D/A — Deutsche Telekom AG re: T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) — SEC EDGAR
- SCHEDULE 13D/A Exhibit 99.70 — SCHEDULE A-1 — SEC EDGAR
- SCHEDULE 13D/A Exhibit 99.71 — SCHEDULE A-3 — SEC EDGAR
- SCHEDULE 13D/A Exhibit 99.72 — SCHEDULE A-4 — SEC EDGAR
- AKTIE IM FOKUS: Deutsche Telekom fester - Zahlen und Pläne rund um T-Mobile US — Yahoo Finance
