Softbank waived the Alibaba IPO card to banks, saying their help in funding the rival bid can ruin their chances in participating in the highly anticipated IPO, which it owns one third of.

Masayoshi Son, Softbank's founder and president is set to travel to the US to meet with major Sprint-Nextel shareholders.

Dish Network bid cut up by Softbank CEO. Softbank's list of achievements in order to acquire Sprint Nextel just got shorter when it was allowed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to send out proxy materials to its shareholders regarding the upcoming vote for the said buyout transaction.

Softbank will not modify the terms of its offer according to billionaire founder Masayoshi Son. In a statement, Softbank Corp said that its offer for 70% of Sprint Nextel Corp at US$20.

Intel CEO sends letter to FCC Chairman throwing support to the Softbank bid. Paul Otellini, the CEO of Intel Corp has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission vouching for his support for SoftBank's bid for Sprint Nextel instead of the Dish Network's unsolicited bid.

Softbank, despite its standing merger agreement provisions, allows Sprint to conduct discussions with Dish.

Clearwire shareholders to meet and approve Sprint Nextel offer of US$2.97 per share. Clearwire Corp is scheduling a shareholder meeting on May 21 to obtain a decision regarding the offer made by Sprint-Nextel for US$2.

Sprint-Nextel's board of directors has formed a special committee to evaluate the bid made by Dish Network.

Sprint, while reviewing the Dish offer, sought continuance for the FCC review of the SoftBank offer.

The dual tranche Softbank Corp bond issue proceeds would help fund the Sprint Nextel bid of the company.