It was 1998 and Apple was not in the best of shape. A series of bad decisions, renewed egos, the forced departure of Steve Jobs and a direction that had not existed for a long time and was not expected, They put the company in an untenable situation. Then Jobs came back and spent two years rethinking the strategy, but a dead man like that doesn’t come back to life in that time.
Market capitalizations were not the same then as they are today, but Apple’s was around 5,000 million dollars70 times less than today. And with no sign of improvement. Then Telecom Italia, champion of telephone operators in Europe in the 1990s, appeared and sought to integrate it into its already extensive portfolio of companies. In the end, this was not possible… and today in a very complicated situation.
From buying to almost buying
The history of Telecom Italia is curious to say the least. Telefónica was about to enter the group as a partner in 2007, but relations cooled. Its then president, Guido Rossi, resigned. In 2013, the turnaround was complete as Telefónica returned to the fray and put 800 milli on on the table. However, TIM once again made amends.
Telecom Italia is the result of a series of mergers and subsequent privatizations, including those of the Società Italiana per l’Esercizio Telefonico, which At that time, they had a monopoly on communications.Its emergence in the market has been unprecedented, obtaining almost 50% market share and expanding to countries such as Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia and Greece.
To make it clear, it became the sixth largest company in the world in its sector, and that’s when its CEO, Gian Mario Rossignolo, had the idea of taking over Apple, which was in small numbers. The company even organized a trip for its entire staff to meet Steve Jobs. in the legendary 1, Infinite Loop – at that time Apple Park did not yet exist – and that’s what they did.
When they arrived, they knocked on Jobs’ office door and told him they wanted to buy his company. The result was simple and comprehensive.: Steve Jobs said “no”, that they could go back to where they went and that he already had a deal with another company. Apple was never sold, so it seems like this was just a bluff to get them off their backs.
The state of Telecom Italia today
Now let’s go back to 2023. To say that the situation has reversed would be an understatement. Very short. Apple is the second most valuable company in the world and, having easily exceeded three trillion dollars in market capitalization, it does not seem that it will stop being so in the short term. Things have not gone so well for Telecom Italia. They have a debt of 30 billion, they have lost a large part of their subsidiaries
Last year, Telecom Italia negotiated the sale of its entire fixed-line network to an American investment fund, which Bloomberg estimates at 23 billion, although the Italians say they will not accept less than 30. Of course, This company’s fortunes would have been different if it had acquired Apple. But some trains only run once. And after something like that, the iPhone might never have existed.
In any case, the toad is now the problem of the French conglomerate Vivendi, which is carrying its debt – in March, it amounted to 25.8 billion dollars. The shareholders’ ring forces TIM to refinance around 4 billion dollars of debt per year. And meanwhile, its customers are complaining because the company is not as agile as it should be in the transition from copper to fiber.
An older version of this article was originally published on 07/23/2023.
Header Image | Francesca Volpi for Bloomberg
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