Dish Network proposes merger with Sprint Nextel for $25.5 billion

[Fraydog]

Jeff, I'm going to guess it would be a very similar cost structure as far as pricing and plans to AT&T and Verizon. I assume he would continue the Network Vision plan but beyond that? Who knows.

[JeffDTD]

Captain Howdy apparently doesn't want to incur the cost of lining up the 9.3B in financing he needs to buy Sprint until Sprint agrees to let him do "due diligence" by opening their books... which for him, would fit in the chain of events occurring after they've accepted his offer.

 

 

Dish Network's Ergen On Sprint Bid: We Don't Want To Play Whac-A-Mole Again

 

 

That may make it sound a little like Dish is basically asking Sprint to agree to its offer before lining up the money, but that’s not the case, said Ergen. Really, he’s trying to avoid a repeat of the recent ordeal he had in pursuing Clearwire. “It was kind of like Whac-a-Mole,” he said. “Every time we answered a question, something else popped up.”

 

 

 

http://www.forbes.co...c-a-mole-again/

 

 

 

I'm also giddy to learn just how desperate Uncle Charlie is to find a new business venture... He sees the writing on the wall for the product that his "meanest company in America" sells, and he's scared. Sagging Dish subscriber numbers, only 215.6m in Q1 profit, and he thinks the market will smile glowingly over a combined entity leveraged over its cap more than any other telecommunications company in the world?

 

" 9.5B ? Eh! Chump Change! I ain't whackin that mole no more, sprint! Spread those sheets and give Uncle Charlie what he wants!!"

 

http://www.reuters.c...E9480EV20130509

[Fraydog]

You mean, "spread the cheeks".

[MacinJosh]

You mean, "spread the cheeks".

 

No kidding. He wants to destroy Sprint and he can't see in order to assess how long it will take for Dish/Sprint/Clearwire to crumble. Sad state of affairs.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[supert0nes]

He's also going after Lightsquared because he loves watching things crumble.

[PDXmike]

He's also going after Lightsquared because he loves watching things crumble.

 

He should go after Kraft, then...

 

 

I work in data integrity for a major grocery retail chain. After 10 years in the food biz, this is the first thing that came to mind.

[JeffDTD]

Charlie also dropped this little nugget yesterday:

 

"Even if I was given Sprint (service) for free, I wouldn't use it because it doesn't work everywhere I go. Obviously Verizon, and to a lesser degree AT&T, work just about anywhere you go," Ergen said.

http://www.wdbj7.com...0,2623840.story

 

He and his family apparently live in Littleton, CO, slightly SW of Denver. Sprint maps show a good bit of coverage there. Does Charlie even know that roaming is included in all smartphone plans? Sure its 1x, but anywhere where theres a verizon signal, it also "works". I appreciate his desire to grow coverage, but its statements like this that prove he either knows next to nothing about Sprint or is just being hateful. He also has a rude financial awakening coming if he thinks he will be able to financially justify building native coverage "just about anywhere you go"...

[S4GRU]

Charlie also dropped this little nugget yesterday:

 

"Even if I was given Sprint (service) for free, I wouldn't use it because it doesn't work everywhere I go. Obviously Verizon, and to a lesser degree AT&T, work just about anywhere you go," Ergen said.

http://www.wdbj7.com...0,2623840.story

 

He and his family apparently live in Littleton, CO, slightly SW of Denver. Sprint maps show a good bit of coverage there. Does Charlie even know that roaming is included in all smartphone plans? Sure its 1x, but anywhere where theres a verizon signal, it also "works". I appreciate his desire to grow coverage, but its statements like this that prove he either knows next to nothing about Sprint or is just being hateful. He also has a rude financial awakening coming if he thinks he will be able to financially justify building native coverage "just about anywhere you go"...

 

Charlie is a mal-informed individual. He has to have gotten his money by his ruthlessness. I cannot believe he wants to get into a new business field and even purchase several businesses in something he has no personal or intimate knowledge of. AJ and I could run a wireless company better than he could, with access to half his capital.

 

"You've got the brains. I've got the brawn. Let's make lots of money!"

 

Robert

[JeffDTD]

Charlie is a mal-informed individual. He has to have gotten his money by his ruthlessness. I cannot believe he wants to get into a new business field and even purchase several businesses in something he has no personal or intimate knowledge of. AJ and I could run a wireless company better than he could, with access to half his capital.

 

"You've got the brains. I've got the brawn. Let's make lots of money!"

 

Robert

 

You just quoted Pet Shop Boys. A man after my own heart.

[S4GRU]

You just quoted Pet Shop Boys. A man after my own heart.

 

I know you're a little younger than me, so I wasn't sure if you'd get the reference.

 

Robert

[WiWavelength]

AJ and I could run a wireless company better than he could, with access to half his capital.

 

"You've got the brains. I've got the brawn. Let's make lots of money!"

 

So, wait, am I the one with the brains or the brawn? Aw, you know what? Scratch that. I will trade both for a couple of West End Girls.

 

AJ

[JohnHovah]

Charlie is a mal-informed individual. He has to have gotten his money by his ruthlessness. I cannot believe he wants to get into a new business field and even purchase several businesses in something he has no personal or intimate knowledge of. AJ and I could run a wireless company better than he could, with access to half his capital. "You've got the brains. I've got the brawn. Let's make lots of money!" Robert

 

Someone got invited to Son's housewarming party I see.

[Rawvega]

"Masa" is not pulling any punches.

 

http://finance.yahoo...-005450714.html

 

 

 

Exclusive: SoftBank asks banks not to finance Dish's Sprint bid

 

Reuters – 6 hours ago

 

By Soyoung Kim and Olivia Oran

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - SoftBank Corp is playing it rough in its attempt to keep Dish Network Corp from breaking up its $20.1 billion deal to take control of Sprint Nextel Corp.

 

The Japanese telecom company, which owns 33 percent of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, has told banks that their financing of Dish's $25.5 billion rival offer for Sprint could hurt their chances of landing a role in a highly anticipated public offering of the Chinese e-commerce giant, two sources familiar with the situation said.

 

SoftBank, Dish and Sprint declined to comment. A source close to Alibaba said on Friday that while SoftBank is a major investor, it does not make decisions for Alibaba's management. Alibaba has no timetable for an IPO yet and has not hired underwriters.

Softbank's unusual move is the latest sign that the battle for the control of Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, is fast turning into a no-holds-barred brawl between Softbank founder Masayoshi Son and Dish's Charlie Ergen.

 

SoftBank agreed in October last year to buy 70 percent of Sprint for $20.1 billion. In December, Sprint also made an offer to buy out the stake in Clearwire Corp it didn't already own. But Softbank's plans have run into trouble, thanks in large part to Dish. In January, Dish made a counterbid for Clearwire, and followed up in April with the bid for Sprint.

 

Softbank's latest move could make it more difficult for Dish to firm up financing for its Sprint bid. At least one major bank has withdrawn from financing the Dish bid after Softbank's move, the sources said.

 

Dish has said it would need to raise $9 billion in debt to finance the offer, and Softbank has criticized its rival for not having committed financing in place.

 

In an interview last month, Son described the U.S. media veteran as an "amateur" in mobile. "Charlie has no expertise in the mobile industry," the executive told Reuters.

 

For his part, Ergen has fought back against the criticism. Earlier this month, he said acquiring Sprint was so important to Dish that he could consider selling the company altogether if he loses a bidding war.

 

Softbank's move, though unusual, is legal, the sources said.

 

So-called anti-tying rules prohibit banks from offering a product to a company on the condition that it gets a role in another transaction. For example, a bank cannot say it will only give a loan to a company if the bank is chosen as an adviser on the company's next M&A transaction.

 

But banks' corporate clients are not subject to these restrictions. A company, for example, may select underwriters for an IPO on the condition that these banks not participate in a competitor's future public offering.

 

Alibaba's IPO, which could come as early as this year, is one of the most highly anticipated technology deals after Facebook Inc's $16 billion offering last year and would generate lofty fees for Wall Street banks. In Facebook's case, underwriters split about $176 million in fees.

 

BANKS TIED UP

 

Dish is in the process of lining up financing, but is encountering challenges in part because of Softbank's move, the sources said.

Barclays Plc, which is advising Dish, and Jefferies Group LLC, are lined up to provide financing, with Dish speaking to more banks to join the financing, one of the sources said. Jefferies and Barclays declined to comment.

 

Many Wall Street banks including Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and Deutsche Bank are already conflicted and cannot provide financing to Dish because of their roles in other aspects of the bidding war.

 

Bank of America is advising Sprint's special committee, while Citigroup, UBS and Rothschild are advising Sprint. Deutsche Bank is financing SoftBank's proposal.

 

Meanwhile, Softbank has already removed Barclays from a role in financing its bid for Sprint after the British bank was revealed to be advising Dish on a rival offer, sources have said previously.

 

FINANCING ISSUES

 

Dish's lack of committed financing is a concern for the special committee of Sprint's board that is reviewing Dish's offer to determine whether it could lead to a better deal than Softbank's, the sources said.

 

Ergen said on Thursday that Sprint's special committee has not yet given Dish access to its data room to gain a closer look at Sprint's books. The committee is taking its time in part because Dish does not have committed financing, the sources said.

 

In a letter to Sprint's board of directors on April 15, Dish said it intended to fund the $17.3 billion cash portion of the deal using $8.2 billion in balance sheet cash and raising $9 billion in additional debt financing.

 

"We have a proven track record in raising capital to fund strategic initiatives and have received a Highly Confident Letter from our financial advisor, Barclays, confirming our ability to raise the required financing," the letter said.

 

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim, Olivia Oran and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Paritosh Bansal, Matthew Lewis and Paul Simao)

[Fraydog]

So, wait, am I the one with the brains or the brawn? Aw, you know what? Scratch that. I will trade both for a couple of West End Girls.

 

AJ

 

 

The West End town's a dead end world... Go to the east end boys in Tokyo and ignore the West End Girls in the Rockies. Kudos to AJ for the Pet Shop Boys reference.

 

"Masa" is not pulling any punches.

 

http://finance.yahoo...-005450714.html

 

To quote Robert Montgomery Knight's famous post game speech "I'm not here to f*** around!"

 

:rofl:

[bigsnake49]

I know you guys are deadset against Dish. But I have yet to see what Softbank's plans are for Sprint and Clearwire. Clearwire has a lot of spectrum and I would hate to see most of it wasted. It cannot be all used for mobile. It will be extremely expensive to overlay all of Sprint's network with it. At least we know what Dish wants it for: fixed braodband, mobile and VOD/OTT video. What is Softbank/Sprint going to do with it? Are they going to become a media company? If they don't, they they should get rid of most of it to Dish or Verizon, get some money for it and reduce Clearwire's debt. Same thing with Clearwire's network. Sell it to Dish and reduce Celarwire's debt. Then, either go for T-Mobile, or obtain some PCS-H or 600MHz spectrum.

[JeffDTD]

If Softbank had no plans for Clear's spectrum, they wouldn't have pushed Sprint to acquire Clear. The TD-LTE network already in use by Softbank in its home turf is validation of the drum beating Son did a few days ago about their expertise with it.

 

Clear already sells fixed broadband. The only thing Softbank can't immediately promise is cable television on mobile. But ask yourself: How long will it take , deployment wise, to sufficiently support an explosion of video streaming on mobile devices? Until LTE is everywhere and moreso until Clear's spectrum can be integrated, an explosion of video streaming would cause undue network strain.

 

I fully expect fixed in home broadband from Softbank and an interesting smattering of MVNO's/Regional carrier deals.

 

Do you think Ergen will be interested in cheap MVNO options and regional carrier alliances?

[ChadBroChillz]

I know you guys are deadset against Dish. But I have yet to see what Softbank's plans are for Sprint and Clearwire. Clearwire has a lot of spectrum and I would hate to see most of it wasted. It cannot be all used for mobile. It will be extremely expensive to overlay all of Sprint's network with it. At least we know what Dish wants it for: fixed braodband, mobile and VOD/OTT video. What is Softbank/Sprint going to do with it? Are they going to become a media company? If they don't, they they should get rid of most of it to Dish or Verizon, get some money for it and reduce Clearwire's debt. Same thing with Clearwire's network. Sell it to Dish and reduce Celarwire's debt. Then, either go for T-Mobile, or obtain some PCS-H or 600MHz spectrum.

 

Masayoshi Son has said they will not reveal their plans until the deal is done, but considering that they are already talking about carrier aggregating on Clearwire's spectrum, I believe they definitely have something big planned for said spectrum.

 

I agree that I would hate to see the spectrum wasted, but we are not even sure if Sprint will renew those leases. Sprint could let them expire/sell them and just focus on the BRS+ adjacent EBS to reach 60Mhz in major markets. I do not believe Sprint would have a problem selling Dish Clearwire's excess spectrum and network, however, I do not believe that is what Dish wants. Dish actions lead me to believe that they want a partnership similar to lightsquared, but for capacity as payment. Their plans do not work with just Clearwire's network. They would need a nationwide network. I doubt they are going to put the capital to build their own, plus Network Vision gives them a strong platform to build on.

 

I actually like Dish's strategy. I think it brings something unique to the table, but Spish would be up to their eyeballs in debt.

[WiWavelength]

LightSquared founder Phil Falcone comments on Tim Farrar's blog in a bit of a showdown between the two. Interesting...

 

http://tmfassociates.com/blog/2013/05/09/another-sucker-bites-the-dust/comment-page-1/#comment-1356

 

AJ

[S4GRU]

I know you guys are deadset against Dish. But I have yet to see what Softbank's plans are for Sprint and Clearwire. Clearwire has a lot of spectrum and I would hate to see most of it wasted. It cannot be all used for mobile. It will be extremely expensive to overlay all of Sprint's network with it. At least we know what Dish wants it for: fixed braodband, mobile and VOD/OTT video. What is Softbank/Sprint going to do with it? Are they going to become a media company? If they don't, they they should get rid of most of it to Dish or Verizon, get some money for it and reduce Clearwire's debt. Same thing with Clearwire's network. Sell it to Dish and reduce Celarwire's debt. Then, either go for T-Mobile, or obtain some PCS-H or 600MHz spectrum.

 

The difference in cost between deploying half the carriers on EBS/BRS and all of them is not that large. Carriers cards and the power to run them is pretty negligible, all things considered. I don't go along with the "it's too expensive to have all the spectrum" position you quoted. And whartver that burden is, it's nothing compared to the burden the debt load that a combined Sprint/Dish would have.

 

Even if Dish gets Sprint/Clearwire, it's not going to be using all that spectrum out of the gate. If they sell all the EBS leases to VZW, even they won't need it for years. They would just set up protection sites.

 

We know what Softbank would do with it. It would be used to compete with the duopoly directly with unlimited high speed mobile data. They will keep adding carriers of very wide bandwidth to offer superior speeds to VZW and AT&T for less cost and unlimited. You may not like that from an investment standpoint, but consumers want that. And they want it much more than a triple play with DISH.

 

If you are concerned about wasted spectrum, nothing is more wasteful than a stupid Hopper on demand video service parked on a huge amount of spectrum.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[WiWavelength]

Previously, like bigsnake, I suggested that SoftBank-Sprint-Clearwire divest its EBS leases following the WiMAX shutdown, simply because the leases are too volatile and the spectrum is in excess of what the merged operator needs. But I have changed my tune in this regard.

 

Ideally, I would prefer that the FCC allot spectrum to operators on a periodic basis according to market share. Let the operators compete on service and price, not on bandwidth. But using the numerous T-Mobile spectrum acquisitions over the past year as a model, the FCC seems to be allowing the underdog(s) to acquire highly disproportionate amounts of spectrum as a competitive measure against the duopoly.

 

So, if it is good for T-Mobile, then it should be good for Sprint, too. And I now hold the position that SoftBank-Sprint-Clearwire should be able to retain all of its BRS/EBS spectrum.

 

AJ

[bigsnake49]

I want to make sure that people don't misunderstand my podition. I am against the merger with Dish. I am for the divestment of spectrum and the Clearwire network to lighten Sprint's load. I am for efficient utilization of spectrum and effcient utilization of Sptint's network. I think that Sprint should merge with T-Mobile resulting in gobs of spectrum in the PCS and AWS spectrum. They will not need any of Clearwire's spectrum if they combine all their spectrum assets. They will need 600MHz assets.

[S4GRU]

I want to make sure that people don't misunderstand my podition. I am against the merger with Dish. I am for the divestment of spectrum and the Clearwire network to lighten Sprint's load. I am for efficient utilization of spectrum and effcient utilization of Sptint's network. I think that Sprint should merge with T-Mobile resulting in gobs of spectrum in the PCS and AWS spectrum. They will not need any of Clearwire's spectrum if they combine all their spectrum assets. They will need 600MHz assets.

 

If this is indeed the long term plan, an eventual merger with Tmo, then I can see why your position is reasonable. I just don't think it's a good idea to make a spectrum reduction now in hopes of a potential merger in the future.

 

Preserve your spectrum assets now to the maximum the FCC allows. And when merging with Tmo, get rid of EBS.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[supert0nes]

I'm with you up until T-Mobile and 600MHz spectrum. I believe the technology is good enough that coverage can be handled by 800 and capacity by 1900 + 2600. I don't really care either way about the EBS spectrum. Also Sprint + PCS H nationwide seems like the most efficient solution to me.

 

I might like to see Sprint buy Dish's 2ghz spectrum or AT&T.

 

I think a stand alone T-Mobile + 10x10 of 600 in the most freed up TV channel nationwide is great for us as consumers.

 

I don't think AT&T and Verizon should be banned from all spectrum auctions, but handled very carefully to make sure that T-Mobile gets enough 600, but AT&T should be allowed to buy AWS and Verizon some 600. If Verizon gets 600 in areas where they do not have cellular, maybe the FCC can force them to divest all PCS.

[iansltx]

I'm with you up until T-Mobile and 600MHz spectrum. I believe the technology is good enough that coverage can be handled by 800 and capacity by 1900 + 2600. I don't really care either way about the EBS spectrum. Also Sprint + PCS H nationwide seems like the most efficient solution to me.

 

I might like to see Sprint buy Dish's 2ghz spectrum or AT&T.

 

I think a stand alone T-Mobile + 10x10 of 600 in the most freed up TV channel nationwide is great for us as consumers.

 

I don't think AT&T and Verizon should be banned from all spectrum auctions, but handled very carefully to make sure that T-Mobile gets enough 600, but AT&T should be allowed to buy AWS and Verizon some 600. If Verizon gets 600 in areas where they do not have cellular, maybe the FCC can force them to divest all PCS.

 

Verizon needs somewhere to run their CDMA for the next four or five years, so they'll need to keep either CLR or PCS.

 

Just an opinion here but, while I'd like to see PCS H head Sprint's way, they really should go for 600MHz TD-LTE.

 

By contrast, as long as T-Mobile is uninterested in rural, 600MHz isn't a big deal for them. If they bid on it, with the intention of changing their outlook a bit, I'm fine with that too. But having only one 5x5 LTE channel available in SMR certainly isn't the end-all, be-all of low frequency spectrum (even with PCS to back it up).

 

I will say though that, when T-Mobile and Sprint merge (I think it's a when rather than an if), I wouldn't mind seeing 2500 holdings sold over to Dish. That frequency is a better fit for fixed wireless, and PCS + AWS solves your mobile capacity problem on LTE with less site spacing issues than BRS/EBS. Heck, the combined entity might have enough spectrum to eke out 20x20 LTE everywhere, whether in AWS or PCS, and that's kind of phenomenal.

[supert0nes]

I base my opinions on the idea that Dish wont be in the wireless business for much longer, definitely not at the point if/when Sprint merges with T-Mobile. It's my opinion to be sure, but I'm sticking to it.