The deal may not be a surprise, but the structure is.

Liberty is ridding itself of £11.3b of debt, and paying Telefonica £2.5b to compensate. The JV's then saddled with more debt to give both firms a further combined £7.1b payment. https://t.co/5TPqnpNgnr

— Alex Webb (@atbwebb) May 7, 2020

This merger was long in the making, but with the pandemic recession and many sectors and firms in crisis, we should see more major M&As in the future.

O2 and Virgin Media will combine to create Britain's biggest phone and internet operator https://t.co/abmejQPXlz

— Amir Paivar (@AmirPaivar) May 7, 2020

We´ve just announced the deal:

Telefonica and Liberty Global to merge their U.K operations: @VirginMedia and @O2 merge will create a leading fixed-mobile provider. #ConnectivityChampionhttps://t.co/kFMlPKK9WOpic.twitter.com/OsoWq29ViH

— JM Alvarez-Pallete (@jmalvpal) May 7, 2020

Owners of Virgin and O2, Liberty Global and Telefónica agree to to merge their U.K. operations creating one single mobile and broadband provider. Deal is a 50:50 joint venture, and expected to make £6bn in cost savings. pic.twitter.com/fcAIyrYbOj

— Ben Thompson (@BBCBenThompson) May 7, 2020

Some serious financial engineering in this £31bn deal by Liberty Global and Telefónica to merge their UK businesses*

*their customers would appreciate if Virgin Media and O2 could actually deliver basic services w/o constant problemshttps://t.co/qRlhRxyiDk

— Arash Massoudi (@ArashMassoudi) May 7, 2020

Virgin Media and O2 agree on $39 billion merger to create a new UK #telecom giant #TechNews https://t.co/cwPOvW8TOH

— Paula Piccard ?? ?? (@Paula_Piccard) May 7, 2020

O2といえば常勝期アーセナルの胸スポンサーという
イメージが焼き付けられている

Virgin Media and O2 agree on $39 billion merger to create a new UK telecom gianthttps://t.co/8QKaIeh4yC

— Kohei Ando (@ando_kohei) May 7, 2020

Virgin Media and O2 are combining to create a $39 billion UK telecom giant. The combined group could put pressure on BT — which bought EE in 2016 — as well as Vodafone and Sky. More here: https://t.co/zgBv98OWtd

— Ryan Browne (@Ryan_Browne_) May 7, 2020

Broadband's growing share of video consumption & further consolidation/scale across #TMT, highlighted by @libertyglobal @TelefonicaUK $39b merger in the UK yday. 46m subs now formidable competition for @btsport, ? @premierleague media rights @Octagon https://t.co/TFIVxznrvJ

— Daniel Cohen (@AnotherDanCohen) May 7, 2020