Vodafone acquired Mannesmann in the largest M&A deal in history as of 2020. The landmark cross-border takeover was agreed in 1999 and completed in 2000, with a value commonly estimated at roughly $180 billion to $200 billion depending on the calculation method.
Mannesmann was a German industrial and telecommunications conglomerate that had become a major mobile-phone operator. Vodafone AirTouch, the British telecom group, pursued it in a fiercely contested takeover battle. Mannesmann’s management initially resisted, but Vodafone ultimately won with a mostly share-based offer.
The transaction created one of the world’s largest telecommunications businesses and became a symbol of the late-1990s technology and telecom boom. It also demonstrated how rapidly mobile communications were becoming central to corporate strategy and investor valuations.
Figures for the deal vary because analysts may count assumed debt, stock-price changes or the offer’s value at different dates. That is why some rankings show slightly different totals. Verizon and AT&T have participated in enormous transactions, but neither is the canonical answer to this historical deal question.