T-Mobile Agrees to Merge with Sprint

Two of the largest mobile carriers have agreed to merge. T-Mobile and Sprint are Americas third and fourth largest mobile carriers. This merger could affect many people, not just the ones who use these two companies. This merger will potentially affect customer prices for all mobile companies. T-Mobile and Sprint think that this will help them compete with Verizon and AT&T, which are the two largest mobile carriers. These two companies have tried to merge before, but were shot down by the Obama Administration because of competition concerns. We do not know what the Trump Administration will do this latest news. Even with concerns about competition, T-Mobile claims that this move is necessary and will be good for the people. They claim it will create jobs and that it will help them create a large 5G network. They say it is necessary to create this network because of the "fierce competition with China." There is no way to know what will come of this, but the outcome will be interesting.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43943848

Big Stock Decline for TESLA

Tesla experienced another fatality to hang on its semi-autonomous driving system. The company just revealed that its Autopilot feature was turned on when a Model X SUV slammed into a concrete highway lane divider and burst into flames on the morning of Friday, March 23. The driver, Wei Huang, died shortly afterwards at the hospital. The company shares declined 22 percent in March after the concerns or the fatal car crash in California. Tesla’s 5.3 percent bond, issued last August and maturing in 2025 also fell 4 percent to 87.25 cents Wednesday with a yield of 7.6 percent, according to FactSet. The Bond’s price declined 8 percent this month.

Telsa had $3.4 billion in cash or cash equivalents at year end 2017. The company lost nearly $2 billion last year and burned about $3.4 billion in cash after capital investments. Given the company’s cash rate and how it has $230 million of debt due in Nov. 2018 and another $920 million in March 2019 the company believes they will raise new capital soon.

"The losses and heavy capital spending are expected to continue this year. Over the next twelve months Tesla also has $1.2 billion in convertible bonds coming due," Fred Hickey, editor of High Tech Strategist, wrote in an email Wednesday. "In other words, Tesla has an enormous need for more cash and yet some are beginning to lose confidence in the company.”