No Verizon Wireless Buyout Talks With Vodafone: Verizon CEO

Verizon Communications is not in talks with Vodafone Group Plc about taking full ownership of their Verizon Wireless venture, despite market speculation that such a deal could happen, Verizon’s top executive said.

“There’s no discussions about it,” Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam told Reuters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Verizon, which owns 55 percent of the wireless venture, has long said that it would be interested in buying out Vodafone if the 45 percent owner would sell its stake.

McAdam was quoted in a Dow Jones report saying that a deal could be feasible.

But McAdam said his comment did not mean that Verizon was any more likely now to be able to purchase Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless than it was before.

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“Its been feasible for 10 years,” McAdams said. “There’s nothing that’s changed.”