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T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) said its transaction to buy Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) may be finished in a few months. According to Reuters:

T-Mobile US Inc could close its acquisition of Sprint Corp as early as the first quarter of next year, based on indications it is getting from regulators, Chief Financial Officer J. Braxton Carter said at an investor conference.

T-Mobile, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, agreed in April to buy Sprint in a $26 billion deal that is expected to close in the first half of 2019. The deal is currently under scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

MoviePass has started to lose subscribers. According to The Wall Street Journal:

MoviePass experienced a significant decline in subscribers in the third quarter, the latest sign of trouble for majority owner Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. as it looks to stave off insolvency.

While Helios flagged the drop in a securities filing Thursday, it didn’t provide an exact figure. MoviePass had 3.2 million subscribers as of Aug. 10, compared with 1 million in December 2017, according to an August filing. A spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) increased its bet on long-form video programs. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc. will begin making independent, feature-length films through a multiyear partnership with the Oscar-winning studio A24, broadening the iPhone maker’s push into original content beyond TV programming and into movies.

New York-based A24 will produce multiple films for Apple, according to people familiar with the partnership. The world’s most valuable company, which last year allocated more than $1 billion to build out a slate of scripted shows, is following the playbook of Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. in pushing into feature-length, adult-oriented films.

A court gave Sears Holdings the right to sell some of its stores. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Sears Holdings Corp. won court approval to pursue a sale of its best stores, a process that would be the retailer’s only hope of avoiding liquidation.

Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., on Thursday signed off on the company’s sale timeline to sell at least 400 of its best-performing stores.

The company must find a so-called stalking horse, or lead bidder, by Dec. 15, which would set the floor price for other offers. If there is more than one qualifying bid for the stores, an auction would be held in mid-January.

Economist Larry Summers said there is a 50% chance the United States will go into recession in 2020. According to CNBC:

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has put the chances of a U.S. recession at 50 percent within the next two years.

The economist told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche on Thursday that a slowdown in growth was a “near certainty” before adding “the recession risk is nearly 50 percent over the next two years, maybe slightly less.”

Huawei believes it soon could be the top smartphone company in the world. According to CNBC:

Walk around any major city in China, and you’ll see Huawei stores and ads everywhere. That’s because it’s the number one player in the world’s biggest smartphone market, and has become a major contender on the world stage.

The Chinese technology firm overtook Apple to become the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor by market share at the end of the second quarter of the year and has set its sights on the number one spot — currently held by Samsung — by 2020.