Softbank is now shedding the kid gloves in its valiant effort to keep its standing deal for the takeover of Sprint Nextel Corp against the DIsh Network Corp bid.
The Japanese firm, who also owns one third of Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd, has told banks that should they finance the US$25.5 billion bid by its rival for Sprint-Nextel, then their chances of forming part of the financial bloc that would participate in the initial public offer of the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate would become slim to none. This statement was confirmed by two anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
All three firms, namely Softbank, Dish and Sprint-Nextel had declined to comment on the matter. A source though from Alibaba reacted to the Softbank threat, saying while it is a major investor in the company, it does not make decisions for the management team at Alibaba. The source said there is no schedule for an IPO nor are there underwriters hired for the transaction.
Clearly, the control for Sprint Nextel is turning into a bar room brawl between Softbank's founder and president Masayoshi Son and Dish Network's Charlie Ergen.
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