Cable companies including Altice and Comcast also expressed interest in the MVNO. Civen, a UK private equity firm, also bid for the company. Other bidders for Consumer Cellular included Boost founder Adderton, partnered with Marlin Equity, which stepped out of the process when prices reached around $1.6 billion. The company drew interest from Dish Network, which bid almost $2 billion for the business. The company will share a portion of the proceeds – roughly a year and a half worth of each employee's yearly salary – from the transaction with all of its employees.Īs reported by Light Reading, Consumer Cellular put itself up for sale in August. Marick will be replaced by Ed Evans, a longtime wireless industry executive.Ĭonsumer Cellular was founded in 1995 in Portland, Oregon, and now counts around 2,000 employees.
GTCR is set to acquire a majority interest in Consumer Cellular with existing shareholders retaining what has been described as a significant minority position.Ĭonsumer Cellular will keep its current office and call center locations in Oregon and Arizona, but CEO John Marick will retire after the deal is finalized. After a bidding war that involved Dish Network, Altice USA, Ultra Mobile, a group led by Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton and others, Chicago private equity company GTCR has purchased Consumer Cellular for around $2.3 billion.Ĭonsumer Cellular is one of the country's biggest MVNOs with almost 4 million customers.Īccording to sources familiar with the transaction, the deal is expected to close by the end of this year.