NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Wall Street Journal has a great scoop on French telecom Iliad's bid to buy U.S. carrier T-Mobile . The only problem is they don't know how the company would pay for what would likely be about a $30 billion takeover. T-Mobile's balance sheet is roughly 10 times the size of Iliad's; its customer base is five times larger and its market capitalization is about double the French telecom. Iliad had 3.7 billion euros ($4.95 million) in 2013 revenue and 1.2 billion euros in EBITDA on 14.3 million total subscribers, split between landline and wireless. It's balance sheet contains 4.7 billion euros in assets and just 1.3 billion euros in liabilities. By contrast, T-Mobile earned $7.1 billion in revenue in the first quarter alone and adjusted EBITDA of $1.45 billion. T-Mobile's customer base now stands at over 50 million total wireless customers. Its balance contains $51 billion in assets and nearly $37 billion in liabilities, including over $14 billion in long-term debt. The Wall Street Journal reports that Iliad is raising financing for a bid. Perhaps they can lever up a little, but, its hard to see such a small company raising more than a few billion dollars. The rest would have to come in stock, with T-Mobile deciding to take a majority consideration of stock from a small, down-market French telecom that operates in challenged regions like Greece and Algeria. T-Mobile operates in a better market, the U.S., and the company is the fastest-growing and most competitively priced carrier of high-end smartphones. Iliad appears to offer bottom-of-the market wireless and broadband subscriptions. So how on earth is it plausible that Iliad's bid is credible? The Wall Street Journal's report doesn't say, nor does it give indication of any cash or stock consideration. It would have been a good question to ask or get an answer on. T-Mobile declined a request for comment for this story. This looks like a fairytale bid. -- Written by Antoine Gara in New York Follow @AntoineGara
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