- Virgin Mobile UK
Infobox Company
company_name = Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd
company_
company_type =Subsidiary ofVirgin Media
foundation = 1999
location = flagicon|GBRUnited Kingdom
key_people = Thomas Alexander, co-founder (resigned asCEO 2006)
flagicon|GBRSir Richard Branson , co-founder
Graeme Oxby,Managing Director
industry =Mobile Phones
products = Mobile Telephony
revenue = profit GB£563 million (2006)
net_income = profit GB£66 million (2006)
num_employees = 1,700
parent =Virgin Media
homepage = [http://www.virginmobile.co.uk/ www.virginmobile.co.uk]
footnotes = Virgin Mobile UK is amobile phone service provider operating in theUnited Kingdom . It is a subsidiary ofVirgin Media . The company was the world's firstMobile Virtual Network Operator , launched in 1999. It does not maintain its own network, and instead has contracts to use the existing network ofT-Mobile .Virgin Mobile was originally formed as joint venture between T-Mobile and the Virgin Group, however in January 2004 Virgin Group bought out T-Mobile and then floated Virgin Mobile UK on the
London Stock Exchange , retaining a 72% stake. Virgin Group originally planned to raise up to £279m from selling up to 43% of Virgin Mobile however when the group was finally listed only £125m was raised from the sale of a 25% stake after a 20% cut in the value of the listing. Another 3% was later sold on market. At the time the company had 4.1 million customers, employed 1,400 staff in the UK and the listing valued the company at £500m. [cite news
title = Virgin Mobile makes steady debut
publisher =BBC
date = 2002-07-21
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3912429.stm
accessdate = 2007-08-22]The UK service became part of the new
Virgin Media brand on8 February 2007 . Following this, several key personnel, including Alan Gow, Joe (Jonathan) Steel and Philip Nash, left the company.Acquisition by NTL:Telewest
In December 2005 it was announced that Virgin Mobile UK was in talks with Incorporated regarding a sale. The combination of Virgin Mobile and NTL:Telewest would create the United Kingdom's first "quadruple play" media company, bringing together TV,
broadband internet access ,mobile phone and fixed-line phone services, and allowing NTL:Telewest to use the Virgin brand.Under the deal, Virgin owner
Sir Richard Branson was understood to be planning to swap his controlling 72% stake in Virgin Mobile for a 14% holding in NTL:Telewest, which would make the billionaire entrepreneur the biggest single shareholder in the combined group, and give him a share of future revenues.The original bid of £817 million ($1.4 billion) was rejected by Virgin Mobile's independent directors, who took the view that NTL:Telewest's bid "undervalued the business." Sir
Richard Branson was reported to be confident that a restructured deal could be completed. The offer was increased in January 2006, to £961m, or 372p per share.On
April 4 ,2006 , NTL:Telewest Incorporated announced a £962.4m recommended offer for Virgin Mobile. The offer had three options: 372 pence per share in cash; 0.23245 new Inc. shares for each Virgin Mobile share, worth 389p; or a 0.18596 of an NTL:Telewest share, and 67p in cash, worth in total 387p.Branson indicated that he would accept the third option. This led to him receiving at least a 10.1% stake in the newly enlarged NTL:Telewest, and helped to fund the increased 372p per share in cash for the minority shareholders.
The independent directors of Virgin Mobile indicated to NTL:Telewest that they "intended unanimously to recommend that Virgin Mobile shareholders vote in favour of the scheme."As of the
4 July 2006 , NTL:Telewest had acquired Virgin Mobile, delisting it from theLondon Stock Exchange and leaving Virgin Group with a 10.5% shareholding.extended the Virgin brand across its business on
8 February 2007 , re-launching asVirgin Media .Virgin Mobile is expected to launch their own
mobile broadband service later in the year after renegotiating data use with network partnerT Mobile .ee also
*
Virgin Mobile
*Virgin Group
*T-Mobile
*Virgin Media References
External links
* [http://www.virginmobile.co.uk Virgin Mobile UK]
* [http://www.virginmedia.com/ Virgin Media]
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