T-Mobile to Buy Sprint for $26.5 Billion in Bet on Networks

• Legere to run combined company, with SoftBank’s Son on board • Deutsche Telekom to end up with 42% stake, SoftBank with 27%

T-Mobile US Inc. agreed to acquire Sprint Corp. for $26.5 billion in stock, a wager that the carriers can team up to build a next-generation wireless network and get a jump on industry leaders Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.

The deal follows years of will-they-won’t-they deliberations between Deutsche Telekom AG, the German company that controls T-Mobile, and SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese owner of Sprint, and comes about five months after an earlier merger attempt collapsed. ...