
Vodafone knows a thing or two about mergers. The Paddington-based telco still holds the crown for the world’s biggest-ever M&A transaction, acquiring German rival Mannesman in 1999 in a $183 billion deal (double that in today’s money). Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover, or Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision, concluded last year, look puny by comparison.