• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Fortune Crystal Ball

Prediction: These 8 Companies Will Get Bought in 2017

By
Fortune Staff
Fortune Staff
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Fortune Staff
Fortune Staff
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 15, 2016, 9:00 AM ET
Inside A T-Mobile US Inc. Store Ahead Of Earnings Figures
An employee reacts as a shopper tests an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset at a T-Mobile US Inc. store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, Oct. 21, 2016. T-Mobile US Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on October 24. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Daniel Acker—Bloomberg via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The staff of Fortune is assembling its predictions for 2017 in our annual feature, the Fortune Crystal Ball, now on newsstands in the December 1 issue of the magazine. Here’s one of our forecasts.

Helped along by low interest rates, the merger boom of 2016’s last quarter will keep rolling. Here, the Fortune staff’s best guesses at who’s next.

Comcast Will Buy T-Mobile

T-Mobile has been by far the fastest growing U.S. wireless carrier since John Legere took over as CEO in late 2012. Legere’s un-carrier strategy to break with traditional market practices like two year contracts and high roaming fees helped T-Mobile more than double its subscriber base to 69 million.

In 2014, Sprint made a run at T-Mobile, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom, but antitrust regulators waved them off, fearing consolidation would hurt consumers.

However, that same logic likely wouldn’t bar a new entrant in wireless from acquiring Legere’s treasure. And Comcast (CMCSA), the cable TV giant that also owns NBC Universal, has said it plans to offer a wireless service sometime in 2017.

Comcast’s play depends on using leased airwaves from Verizon (VZ), but Legere says sooner or later the cable giant will realize it needs “ownership economics.” And what better carrier to own that T-Mobile? —Aaron Pressman

A Major Player Will Nab Netflix

There have been plenty of rumored suitors for Netflix, including Apple, Google and even Disney (DIS). Any company in the entertainment space drools at the company’s millions of subscribers and its growing stable of movies and TV shows.

It would be an expensive mouthful, to be sure, with a market value of $50 billion. Plus Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said he doesn’t want to sell. But he may not have much of a choice if the company’s spending on content keeps ramping up—it will hit $6 billion next year and it’s still growing.

While it would take a suitor with very deep pockets, Netflix (NFLX) may have to go courting if its stock price starts to flag. —Mathew Ingram

Amazon Will Buy Barnes & Noble

After years of siphoning away books sales from Barnes & Noble, Amazon (AMZN) is now taking the fight to the brick-and-mortar world with its own stores. But so far, Amazon’s bookstore fleet is comprised of only four open or announced locations, and word is the online retailer has designs for potentially hundreds of bookstores that could also sell other items, like Amazon’s electronics.

Conveniently, B&N (BKS) operates 638 stores, is struggling and has a stock market value of $760 million—a pittance for its deep-pocketed, freewheeling rival. The risk? Antitrust regulators will close the book on it. —Phil Wahba

For more on mergers and acquisitions, watch this Fortune video:

Slack Will Sell Out

Slack, the business-oriented chat product, has tons of traction if not profit. It would make a nice pickup for a company that wants to acquire potential customers and perhaps bask in Slack’s reflected glow.

Any Slack acquisition—by IBM? by Cisco? by Oracle? by Salesforce?—would follow in the footsteps of Microsoft’s (MSFT) 2012 buyout of chat platform Yammer. —Barb Darrow

Under Armour Will Merge with Lululemon

Athleisure’s new look could pair yoga pants with Stephen Curry basketball shoes. A merger would combine Lululemon’s strength with yoga-obsessed women with the natural fit Under Armour (UA) has found with male athletes. Lululemon has more expertise as a retailer and commands higher price points, while Under Armour could help the Vancouver-based peer establish a shoe business and build wholesale relationships to expand distribution. Both have set lofty goals: Lululemon wants to double the business within five years to $4 billion in revenue, while Under Armour projects $7 billion by 2018. But with industry leader Nike (NKE) targeting $50 billion by 2020, an acquisition may be best to take on the swoosh. —John Kell

Private Equity Will Nab Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Now that it’s sold off most of its software and enterprise services businesses to focus on high-end servers, storage and “converged” data center hardware could well end up getting acquired itself. Rumors have surfaced over the past few months that private equity companies have shown an interest. And why not? There’s a precedent for this type of deal. Vista Equity Partners bought Ping Identity for about $600 million after its $1.79 billion purchase of Marketo earlier in the year, and Thoma Bravo bought Qlik for $3 billion. Expect HPE (HPE) would fetch a far heftier price tag, of course. —Barb Darrow

Simon Property Will Acquire Sears

Simon Property Group (SPG), the largest U.S. mall developer, formed a joint venture with Sears (SHLD) last year to hive off some of its best locations and charge other retailers a premium. It follows that Simon could go one step further and buy the chain outright, then sell off or carve up the remaining space for other stores. —Phil Wahba

About the Author
By Fortune Staff
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

Current price of Bitcoin for July 1, 2026
Personal FinanceCryptocurrency
Current price of Bitcoin for July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
Personal FinanceEthereum
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Top CD rates from major banks July 1, 2026: Chase CDs, Bank of America CDs, Citibank CDs, and more
Personal FinanceCertificates of Deposit (CDs)
Top CD rates from major banks on July 1, 2026: Chase CDs, Bank of America CDs, Citibank CDs, and more
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
DHL plane being refuelled at airport by man in high-vis jacket
EnergyAviation
The Iran conflict saw jet fuel prices soar—when you use 1.88 million tonnes a year, how you respond really matters (just ask DHL)
By Sam ForsdickJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal FinanceOil
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
In this photo illustration, a Cisco logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intellingence (AI) symbols in the background.
AICFO Daily
Cisco is rolling out AI agents to every single one of its 90,000 employees
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
6 days ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
Commentary
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of June 30 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 30 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 30, 2026
1 day ago
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
8 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.