Arkansas became the 9th state to join DOJ’s T-Mobile/Sprint settlement, Justice said Friday. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) supported the pact in September (see 1909100052). She's now officially joining with Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Apple and Sonos didn’t comment Wednesday on reports the HomePod maker is looking to buy the wireless multiroom music pioneer. Sonos shares rose 6.5 percent to close at $14.34 on an analyst report citing Apple as a potential suitor for Sonos to improve its connected home efforts.

T-Mobile released another quarter of solid results (see 1910280060) but did little to address concerns about the pending buy of Sprint, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors. “Results were better than consensus again, and consensus is used to this trend,” Chaplin wrote: “Guidance was increased again, and now sits above where consensus is for the year, and we are pretty sure management is leaving something in the tank to beat next quarter too.” Little is changing on the Sprint deal, he said: “The deal is still … the deal. Management didn’t say anything that will materially move the odds.” T-Mobile could fall behind on 5G if approval is long delayed, said MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett. “Delivering a compelling user experience will require densification in mid-band,” he said: “Their mid-band strategy, if the deal is approved, is to use Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum. But what is it if the deal is rejected?”

It would “make sense” for Google to buy Fitbit “rather than create its own devices and collect years of data,” Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter wrote investors Tuesday. Their partnership, announced in April 2018 (see 1804300010), lets them compete with Apple in health, said Pachter: “If Google wants to expand in MedTech and go head-to-head with Apple, it would make eminent sense to purchase Fitbit," said the analyst. It's taking Fitbit longer than expected to expand services that could return the company to profitability, while device sales “are stagnating as both the novelty wears off and competition increases,” said Pachter. The companies didn't comment Monday (see 1910280043). Fitbit shares closed up a second day, gaining 7.3 percent Tuesday to $6.05.

Alphabet and Fitbit didn’t comment Monday on reports Google’s parent made an offer to buy the wearable and fitness tracker company. Google’s Wear OS page for its smartwatch operating system shows models under the Diesel, Michael Kors, Movado and Misfit brands but none under the Google label. Fitbit shares closed 30 percent higher Monday at $5.62.

Roku will buy the “demand-side” advertising platform dataxu for $150 million in cash and stock and it’s expected to close this quarter, said Roku Tuesday. It will “complement” Roku's over-the-top ads and enable it to offer marketers “a single, data-driven software solution to plan, buy, and optimize their ad spend across TV and OTT providers,” it said. Roku considers its “data-driven ecosystem ... essential to the success of OTT advertising,” said Scott Rosenberg, general manager-platform business, on a Q2 call in August. Roku in Q2 more than doubled its year-over-year “video ad impressions.”

Four public interest groups told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia it should reject the deal DOJ worked out with T-Mobile, Sprint and Dish Network allowing T-Mobile to buy Sprint. DOJ needs clearance from the court. Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and New America’s Open Technology Institute raised concerns Friday. DOJ’s “Competitive Impact Statement ably describes why the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile would substantially lessen competition for retail mobile wireless service,” they said. DOJ agreed to the deal “not because it has devised a set of conditions that it can demonstrate will reliably preserve the competition that exists today, or that would increase competition beyond its current level. Instead, it has put forward conditions that, at most, and only if all goes well, might bring back a semblance of the current level of competition some years from now,” they said in docket 1:19-cv-02232.

Antitrust agencies cleared Hasbro’s buy of Entertainment One, said a new FTC early termination notice. Hasbro values the deal at $4 billion.

T-Mobile has peeled Mississippi from states’ lawsuit against the carrier buying Sprint. Attorney General Jim Hood (D) said he reached agreement with T-Mobile to make Mississippi-specific commitments. T-Mobile agreed to deploy 5G to at least 62 percent of the state’s general and rural populations, with speeds of 100 Mbps or more, said Hood’s office. “The parties also made limited price commitments and … vowed to decrease prices as supply increased, particularly as DISH enters the mobile market.” Hood “confirmed that there would be no retail job loss and that new stores would be opened in rural areas,” his office said. T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeted applause. Last month, Illinois joined what's now 16 AGs suing the carriers at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see 1909030060), while Arkansas joined 11 other states supporting the deal (see 1909100052). Florida settled claims earlier this month (see 1910020025). "With every passing day, we continue to build a strong case that this mega-merger is bad for innovation, bad for workers, and bad for consumers," responded a spokesperson for New York AG Letitia James (D), leading the lawsuit. "And we look forward to presenting these arguments in court."

AT&T said it agreed to sell its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America for $1.95 billion cash. The FCC and DOJ must approve, AT&T said Wednesday. The deal includes spectrum and other network assets, real estate and leases, 1.1 million wireless subscribers and other customers and contracts, AT&T said: Some 1,300 AT&T employees will move to Liberty Latin America. “To ensure a smooth transition for its customers, AT&T will provide certain transition support functions to Liberty Latin America following close of the transaction,” the telco said: “AT&T will retain FirstNet responsibilities and relationships as well as DIRECTV and certain global business customer relationships.” The transaction is “a result of our ongoing strategic review of our balance sheet and assets to identify opportunities for monetization,” said John Stephens, AT&T chief financial officer. New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin said the deal doesn’t change the firm’s cautious outlook on AT&T: “We have seen early signs of a turn in the wireless business as AT&T deploys 60 MHz of new spectrum. We have held back on upgrading the stock because we think expectations for their other businesses look too optimistic.” Analysts said this and other sales the carrier has announced amount to about $11 billion in 2019.