An anonymous source has confirmed that Dish Network Corp is remaining on the sidelines as to the proposed purchase by Sprint Nextel Corp of Clearwire Corp shares it does not already own. This tact comes after Dish made an unsolicited offer to purchase Sprint Nextel.
The offer made for Sprint was at US$25.5 billion stock and cash and is designed to up end the proposed acquisition of Sprint by Softbank Corp of Japan.
This is a continuing saga between the three companies, as Sprint already owns the majority of shares in Clearwire, with a standing offer to pay US$2.97 per share to purchase the remaining 49% of Clearwire. Last January, Dish offered a higher bid for Clearwire at US$3.30 per share.
In a statement, Dish CEO Charlie Ergen told Reuters, "Our deal with Sprint is not contingent on closing the Clearwire deal. Sprint would still have control of Clearwire and we feel very comfortable based on our past relationship with Clearwire that we can work with Clearwire as a separate company."
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