Force majeure may stymie the deal in which France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom propose to pay $4,200m for a 20% stake in Sprint Corp before the regulators get around to making a ruling: the shares plunged 13% – $4.125 – to $26.625 yesterday on news of likely lower profits than analysts expected for the fourth quarter and a broker downgrade – the company said fourth quarter operating income from long distance would be lower than a year ago, and fourth quarter revenues virtually flat with the third quarter; that share price means that the French and the Germans will pay a big premium to the price in the market if the deal goes through on the outline terms they have agreed.
