Verizon Buying TracFone Wireless for Up to $6.9 Billion (2)

Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to buy TracFone Wireless Inc. from America Movil SAB for as much as $6.9 billion, as the largest U.S. wireless carrier seeks to expand its mobile business into the so-called prepaid market.

Verizon will pay $3.125 billion in cash and $3.125 billion in stock, with as much as $650 million additional tied to performance goals, it said in a statement Monday. TracFone, a U.S. prepaid mobile service, is a subsidiary of billionaire Carlos Slim’s Mexico-based wireless carrier. It’s the largest U.S. prepaid service, with 21 million subscribers.

America Movil’s American depositary receipts rose as much ...