Branson in Talks to Sell Stake in Cellphone Unit

[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Heather Timmons]
Richard Branson is in talks to sell his stake in Virgin Mobile's British business to NTL, a British cable and phone provider. A deal could be announced as soon as this week and would create a one-stop shop for customers' telephone and cable television service under the Virgin name. NTL is Britain's second-largest pay-television company behind British Sky Broadcasting and the country's second-largest fixed-line telephone company after British Telecom. NTL would adopt the Virgin name if the deal were to go through. The combined company would have a market capitalization around £4.5 billion and reach about nine million British customers. The prospective merger is another sign of consolidation in the telecommunications industry, as the lines between telephone, cable TV and broadband companies continue to be blurred. The new company would be able to offer customers mobile and fixed-line phone service, Internet access and cable service.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/business/worldbusiness/05deal.html?pagewanted=all
(requires registration)