Dish Network L.L.C is bidding US$25.5 billion to try to merge with Sprint Nextel Inc.
The merger bid is split between $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock. Sprint shareholders would receive $7.00 per share if the bid is approved. Dish claims this represents a 13 percent premium over the SoftBank Mobile merger offer for Sprint. (See Softbank to Pay $20B for 70% Sprint Stake.)
"The Dish proposal clearly represents superior value to Sprint shareholders, including greater ownership in a combined company that is better positioned for the future with more spectrum, products, subscribers, financial scale and new opportunities," the company says in a statement. It says the combined company would be the only operator able to offer combined home and mobile voice and video.
Dish has already put in a $2.2 billion bid for Sprint's WiMax partner Clearwire Corp. (See Dish Puts In Rival Bid for Clearwire.)
Dish has collected a cash pile of $10 billion that makes these kinds of deals possible.
— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile
re: Dish Bids $25.5B for SprintSoftBank is confident they can hold on:
"Softbank believes that the agreed terms of our transaction with Sprint offer Sprint shareholders superior short- and long-term benefits to Dish's highly conditional preliminary proposal," SoftBank said in a statement this evening. "The Softbank-Sprint transaction is in the advanced stages of receiving the necessary approvals, and we expect to consummate the transaction on July 1, 2013."
re: Dish Bids $25.5B for SprintHe claims that after the network vision upgrades are done (2014 sometime) Sprint will have a first-class wireless network.
re: Dish Bids $25.5B for SprintI don't understand Charlie's math. Adding a second-rate pay TV service and a second-rate mobile service equals a better service?-á
"Softbank believes that the agreed terms of our transaction with Sprint
offer Sprint shareholders superior short- and long-term benefits to
Dish's highly conditional preliminary proposal," SoftBank said in a
statement this evening. "The Softbank-Sprint transaction is in the
advanced stages of receiving the necessary approvals, and we expect to
consummate the transaction on July 1, 2013."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035...