Scared - Verizon, Vodafone

Few things scare me more than Vodafone management selling their one good asset (the stake in Verizon wireless) to waste in their usual manner (see Australia). By far the best asset owned by Vodafone is the one asset they do not manage - and there is a (management) reason for this.

But there was an a quote in yesterday's Verizon conference call that was somewhat contrary to my prior opinion...

With respect to Vodafone, obviously, we made a public announcement on April 2, and I would reference all of you back to that announcement. Of course, as we've always said before, we are very interested in acquiring the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless that we don't already own. I will say, though, that there has been a lot of speculation about the tax consequences of a purchase of this 45%, and we are extremely confident that such a transaction could be accomplished in a manner that is very tax-efficient and would not result in a tax on the gain in that stake. So beyond that, I don't think there is really much else to say. So with that, I will pass it on to the next question.

I am worried that Vodafone will take the money. Very worried.

John