Vodafone and Three announced plans to merge in the UK back in 2023, and the consolidation was eventually given the go-ahead by regulators in December 2024. The merged entity, VodafoneThree, officially began operations on May 31, 2025, with Vodafone holding 51% of the shares and CK Hutchison (Three’s owner) holding 49%.
Now, almost exactly one year later, Vodafone is buying out CK Hutchison’s stake, and thus will take full ownership of VodafoneThree. This will cost Vodafone £4.3 billion. The deal will of course need to be cleared by regulators, and that’s expected to happen at some point during the second half of this year.
Interestingly, under the terms of the merger between Vodafone and Three, the former would have had an option to take full ownership three years after completion, but it chose to take this step sooner than expected.
Vodafone says there will be no change to the brands – both Vodafone and Three will continue to operate under the new ownership. This deal is the latest step in Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle’s strategy of focusing on the company’s biggest markets, which are the UK and Germany. During her tenure, Vodafone has exited Spain and Italy and will be selling its stake in a Dutch joint-venture.
