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Sprint Takes Control of Clearwire
Buys out Craig McCaw, Now Owns 53% of Clearwire

After SoftBank acquired Sprint this week, rumors swirled that the company would also be interested in acquiring Clearwire -- sending Clearwire stock soaring. Those rumors were shot down however, insiders insisting that SoftBank will need much of the next year to settle into the Sprint deal. Interestingly though, Sprint has moved quickly to take majority control of Clearwire using the promise of future SoftBank cash to pay Craig McCaw $100 million for his 5% stake in Clearwire, bringing Sprint's ownership to 50.8%.

Sources are now telling numerous news outlets that a Sprint/Softbank full acquisition of Clearwire could happen in time, but only after the two companies have time to properly digest their new deal. Both companies seem fairly clearly worried that Clearwire might have not been available by then, with the company likely eyeballing a potentially partnership or even acquisition by Dish.

The move comes after a highly contentious few years between Sprint and Clearwire, which saw Sprint taking a lot of time trying to separate itself from Clearwire and build its own LTE network. Now that Sprint has a sugar daddy and is going to be on sound financial footing, the game has apparently changed.
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rdmiller
join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA

rdmiller

Member

Fresh cash?

If the Softbank deal hasn't closed yet, where did the "fresh cash" come from? Karl has been speculating Sprint was near bankruptcy.

mixdup
@charter.com

mixdup

Anon

Re: Fresh cash?

None of the deals have closed yet. They can sign the letter of intent before any of the SoftBank money is in hand.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

1 recommendation

battleop to rdmiller

Member

to rdmiller
Let me fix that for you.

Karl has been speculating praying Sprint was near bankruptcy.

Nothing creates traffic like someone else's misery.

GeekJedi
RF is Good For You
Premium Member
join:2001-06-21
Mukwonago, WI

2 recommendations

GeekJedi

Premium Member

Re: Fresh cash?

I have a hard time believing that Karl even wrote this. By law, every piece that Karl writes about Sprint MUST include a line such as "Sprint's Unlimited Data (Which likely isn't long for this world)..."
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Fresh cash?

by law must???

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to rdmiller

Premium Member

to rdmiller
"using the promise of future SoftBank cash to pay Craig McCaw $100 million for his 5% stake in Clearwire"

McCaw has long been ready to dump clearwire, and likely saw this as the best bid.

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

AVD

Premium Member

Re: Fresh cash?

said by tshirt:

"using the promise of future SoftBank cash to pay Craig McCaw $100 million for his 5% stake in Clearwire"

McCaw has long been ready to dump clearwire, and likely saw this as the best bid.

they probably did not want to deal with softbank either
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to rdmiller

Member

to rdmiller
$100 million is chump change for Sprint. The key here is that Sprint's strategy with regard to Clearwire changes whe SoftBank is around, since it's in SoftBank's interest to get economies of scale in TD-LTE 2500 as quickly as possible, since it makes their own network in Japan cheaper.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to rdmiller

Member

to rdmiller
Sprint has said before after the iPhone deal that they were out of cash. It was on the Morning Bytes here and on several other sites.
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP

Member

Re: Fresh cash?

said by hottboiinnc4:

Sprint has said before after the iPhone deal that they were out of cash. It was on the Morning Bytes here and on several other sites.

They never said any such thing. Why do you continually post nonsense? Their quarterly reports indicate that even before the SoftBank deal they had $6.8 BILLION in cash and equivalents on hand. Facts OWN you!

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

AVD

Premium Member

Re: Fresh cash?

6.8B??? why no LTE in NYC then? What was the equivalent? Stock in Clearwire?

Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

Metatron2008

Premium Member

Clearwires spectrum is worth billions.

Worth far far more then the rest. If they can turn on all 100 mhz instead of using 5...
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Clearwires spectrum is worth billions.

Clearwire has massively varying amounts of spectrum, depending on the city. Some places their (+ Sprint's) BRS plus leased EBS is 100MHz. Other places, not so much.

Also, in some areas their WiMAX network is using a significant chunk of spectrum, due to poor spectrum reuse capabilities of 802.16e (you can't use the same channel on all sector on the same site).
BigDaddyPin
join:2012-09-05
Westminster, MD

BigDaddyPin

Member

Sprint to be #1

Give it a few years and Sprint will be #1 over Att & Verizon.

verizonlteda
@myvzw.com

verizonlteda

Anon

Re: Sprint to be #1

LMAO that made me drop my coke. Yeah earth will freeze over before sprint would be number 1 lol.

Woody79_00
I run Linux am I still a PC?
Premium Member
join:2004-07-08
united state

Woody79_00

Premium Member

Re: Sprint to be #1

said by verizonlteda :

LMAO that made me drop my coke. Yeah earth will freeze over before sprint would be number 1 lol.

I will bet in 3-4 years, Sprint will have taken a significant chunk of Verizon and ATT customers....You way way way way way way underestimate Softbank....these japanese busniessmen are very smart...i can guarantee you their board and CEO is smarter then ATT and Verizon's put together....this buying of Sprint of Softbank was not just grabbing for straws to get into the USA market...they could have bought T-Mobile or someone else for less price.

Nope Softbank has a plan...and Softbank will expand Sprint's coverage and offer a broad range of competitive services for competitive rates....Softbank will FORCE ATT and Verizon to compete on price and that will be a win-win for the American consumer....folks really need to stop drinking the VZW and ATT kool-aid...
Terabit
join:2008-12-19

Terabit

Member

Re: Sprint to be #1

I doubt it. Sprint's unlimited data is their weakness in my opinion. You cannot have one of the weakest networks in America yet continue to offer unlimited.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Sprint to be #1

Give it 18 months. Sprint will not have the weakest network anymore.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to Terabit

Premium Member

to Terabit
If they crank up LTE on 100mhz of Clearwire spectrum, they will be able to handle an order of magnitude more data than Verizon or AT&T.
meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow to Woody79_00

Member

to Woody79_00
You do realize that SoftBank is basically the Sprint of Japan, so to speak, right? It started as Vodafone (which owns a big chunk of Verizon Wireless) and Vodafone considered their Japanese network basically a failure. SoftBank is in third place in the Japanese market, and that despite being the exclusive iPhone carrier before the iPhone went multi-carrier. They're well known in Japan for slow speeds and poor coverage. Even Au/KDDI is considered better - despite being CDMA! Thus, they're the Verizon of the Japanese market (though not as strong - I suspect because the Japanese are a bit more tech-savvy and don't want CDMA). NTT DoCoMo is the AT&T - the huge gorilla with a fast network, excellent coverage, etc.
BigDaddyPin
join:2012-09-05
Westminster, MD

BigDaddyPin to verizonlteda

Member

to verizonlteda
Dec. 21st, we'll freeze over......If you pay attention to the Markets, you would agree...

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to BigDaddyPin

Premium Member

to BigDaddyPin
said by BigDaddyPin:

Give it a few years and Sprint will be #1 over Att & Verizon.

Maybe! But Sprint is notorious for not following thru. The odds would be heavily against them.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Sprint to be #1

Not if they outbuilt AT&T and Verizon, and used their spectrum position with super-fast LTE to their advantage.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Really

Does this all matter? Arnt we all doomed on new years eve, not supposed to make it into 2013? Maybe the Myans meant the world would end if x candidate gets elected/reelected (depending on which side your on).

BF69 Fan
@charter.com

BF69 Fan

Anon

Re: Really

If December 21st is new years eve where you are from, sure.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to OSUGoose

Member

to OSUGoose
no its 12-12-12 and its according to the Mayan Calender. Because that is when their's ended. But what is never stated is they only died then is the Spaniards are the one that killed them off.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Everybody! It was a joke, I wasn't being serious/exact with the time/dates, jesus!
qworster
join:2001-11-25
Bryn Mawr, PA

qworster

Member

Sprint had control of Clear and gave it up last year.

They had control and gave it up in case Clear went belly up and their creditors decided to come after Sprint as majority shareholder and owner.
flycuban
join:2005-04-25
Homestead, FL

flycuban

Member

Re: Sprint had control of Clear and gave it up last year.

CYA baby