The press couldn't let T-Mobile's sailor-mouthed CEO slip away without trying to pin him on the latest buyout rumors.
John Legere had just wrapped up a CES 2014 press event where he introduced a plan to pay switchers early termination fees, claimed T-Mobile has the fastest 4G LTE network in the US and announced years-high customer growth.
Then the prompt came down: Can you address growing rumors that Sprint may put in a bid for T-Mobile?
As a CEO of a public company, the pink T-shirt clad Legere said he's supposed to "drool and say, 'Eh, I don't have anything to say about that.'"
But...
"I have a few things to say."
T-Mobile ain't going nowhere
"Historically, the consolidation in this industry was somebody buying somebody for spectrum," Legere laid out.
"They didn't give a sh*t about the business. They wanted the spectrum. I think what you noticed about all of the people that are rumoring around about T-Mobile, all they are are spectrum. They're spectrum with no legs. So what I can tell you is that T-Mobile's Un-carrier business - the business, the brand, the attitude - is here to stay. The impact on the United States industry of this company will prevail.
"I want you to think about two things about T-Mobile," Legere continued. "One thing that we showed last week is that we can acquire low-band spectrum and we can continue to participate in the availability of spectrum, build this company out and be standalone [and] independent because we not only have an engine, we have legs.
"On the other hand, there are options for the industry for the future that are consolidation capabilities that would provide signficiant scale in capability. But I believe what we are in any of those equations is a brand, a focus on the consumer, a change agent, a maverick in the industry that I believe the United States feels extremely important. So I believe that what we're doing in any scenario will prevail."
In other words, no matter how it shakes out, Legere believes T-Mobile's Uncarrier legacy, as it were, will live on.
