Deutsche Telekom: World Cup Ratings Bonanza and Labour Deal Overwhelmed by Mounting Merger Jitters

Shares hit near year low as merger speculation overshadows strong Q1 results and World Cup traffic records; technicals show downtrend.

Shares in Deutsche Telekom have shed nearly 9% over the past 30 days, closing Friday at €26.72 — just a whisker above the year’s low of €25.99 and more than 14% below where they stood 12 months ago. The slide comes despite a string of operational achievements that, on paper, ought to be fuelling investor enthusiasm.

MagentaTV, the group’s streaming platform, has enjoyed a stunning start to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. More than 36 million viewers tuned in during the first seven days, and the France–Senegal group match set a new peak of 6.5 million simultaneous viewers. The all-time high for data traffic came during Germany’s opening game, when 14,700 gigabits per second flowed through Telekom’s network for MagentaTV alone. Subscription volumes have more than doubled compared with the 2024 European Championship.

Away from the pitch, management has removed a significant source of uncertainty. Trade union ver.di has given final approval to a new collective labour agreement covering roughly 60,000 domestic employees. Wages will rise by about 8.5% in three defined steps over 33 months, while the company has ruled out compulsory redundancies until the end of 2028. The deal provides the board with cost visibility for years ahead.

Yet the market is not buying. The primary drag is the persistent speculation, swirling since April, about a full merger of Telekom’s US subsidiary T?Mobile US into a new holding company. While such a structure could unlock synergies, investors fret about its complexity and potential regulatory hurdles. That cloud has overshadowed an otherwise strong first quarter, during which adjusted operating profit climbed 7.5% and prompted management to lift the full?year target to around €47.5 billion.

The technical picture reinforces the bearish mood. The stock now trades well below both its 50?day and 200?day moving averages, with the gap to the latter standing at roughly 8% — a clear sign of a downtrend in place. Still, some technically?oriented investors view the oversold condition as setting the stage for a bounce.

Support is coming from the company’s own buyback programme, which can reach up to €2 billion this year. By mid?June the group had already scooped up more than 15 million shares from the open market. Analysts at UBS and Goldman Sachs maintain buy ratings, seeing the current price well below their target levels.

The next catalyst arrives on 6 August 2026, when Deutsche Telekom publishes second?quarter results. That report will offer the first hard financial data on how the World Cup bonanza is translating into the bottom line — and whether the market’s scepticism is warranted, or simply a case of nerves about a deal that may never happen.