The story
Founded by Xavier Niel in 1980.1
Free Mobile, a subsidiary of Iliad, was launched in 2012. As of December 2013, it was France's fourth largest mobile operator, having gained a 12% share of the market.
On August 1, 2014, Iliad publicly announced a bid to acquire a 56% stake in the United States wireless carrier T-Mobile for US$16 billion. The bid came amidst reports that competing carrier Sprint Corporation, owned by Japanese firm Softbank, was planning its own US$24 billion merger. The bid was dropped in October 2014.
As of the end of 2012, the company was active in over 35 countries.
In 2019, Iliad made 5.33 billion revenue.
Iliad Italia, an Italian subsidiary of Iliad, was launched in Milan, Lombardy on May 29, 2018.
In May 2019, Iliad and Salt sold a majority of their telecommunications towers in France, Italy, and Switzerland to Cellnex Telecom for €2.7 billion — €2 billion for Iliad (covering 70% of its towers) and €700 million for Salt (90% of its towers). The deal included approximately 5,700 towers in France and 2,200 in Italy.
In September 2020, Iliad acquired Play, the largest mobile operator in Poland, for US$4.2 billion.
In July 2021, Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad, announced the acquisition of the remaining 29% of the company he did not already own, in a US$3.7 billion deal.
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In September 2021, Iliad acquired UPC Poland, a subsidiary of Liberty Global, for €1.5 billion.
From Wikipedia’s article on Iliad SA, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4