All Sprint acquisition discussion (was "Japan's Softbank in talks for $12.8 bln Sprint stake")

[Fraydog]

 

 

SoftBank has to protect their own interests. They would be foolish to not consider T-Mobile if Sprint blows up. It's much less of a technical transition for one. WCDMA/LTE carrier buys out WCDMA/LTE carrier. Dog bites man.

 

 

Also, Sprint's own history of mismanagement at the board level has to come into play. The merger call is not made by Hesse. It's made by Jim Hance. If I'm right, wasn't he on the Sprint board when Nextel came into play? Hance blocked the MetroPCS deal, and that nothing to do with AWS spectrum, it was his incompetence.

 

 

They can always buy spectrum in band 41 from a desperate, over-leveraged Dish. If SoftBank buys T-Mobile, believe me, they'll be able to, over the long term, do everything they wanted to do with Sprint.

 

 

Also, you all better believe that Hesse's history with Son at Terabeam will come up. The end of Terabeam wasn't that inspiring. While I may not like Dish, if Dish ups SoftBank's bid to a point where a complete buyout provides a premium on Sprint's bid, which would be $28.71 billion, then Hance is going to sell out.

 

 

As soon as ergen won, I am willing to bet his interest would magically disappear and his true intentions would shine. Ergen would buy up surplus spectrum from Clearwire, then sign a network share deal with Sprint. That has always been Ergen's endgame. He is not going to over leverage his company to get Sprint. He is trying to agitate.

 

Given Sprint's history, you are looking at this far too optimistically. I fully believe that Charlie Ergen thinks he needs Sprint. Given how satellite is facing far more competition, not just from DirecTV but also from AT&T and Verizon, I can actually see how a paranoid Charlie thinks he needs a carrier at this stage.

 

You haven't found a good reason why Hance would go along with Sprint's executives in the face of a raised Dish bid. There's already a history of Hance interfering with Hesse, see MetroPCS as example one.

[tongboy]

SoftBank has to protect their own interests. They would be foolish to not consider T-Mobile if Sprint blows up. It's much less of a technical transition for one. WCDMA/LTE carrier buys out WCDMA/LTE carrier. Dog bites man.

 

Also, Sprint's own history of mismanagement at the board level has to come into play. The merger call is not made by Hesse. It's made by Jim Hance. If I'm right, wasn't he on the Sprint board when Nextel came into play? Hance blocked the MetroPCS deal, and that nothing to do with AWS spectrum, it was his incompetence.

 

They can always buy spectrum in band 41 from a desperate, over-leveraged Dish. If SoftBank buys T-Mobile, believe me, they'll be able to, over the long term, do everything they wanted to do with Sprint.

 

Also, you all better believe that Hesse's history with Son at Terabeam will come up. The end of Terabeam wasn't that inspiring. While I may not like Dish, if Dish ups SoftBank's bid to a point where a complete buyout provides a premium on Sprint's bid, which would be $28.71 billion, then Hance is going to sell out.

Hance is an interesting topic. He is on multiple boards including Ford and Morgan Stanley I believe. This article explains him a little bit...

 

http://247wallst.com/2012/05/07/the-troubled-tenure-of-sprint-chairman-james-h-hance/

 

I believe he ultimately is really involved with Carlyle group which is a major investor in Sprint Nextel. That's probably how he ended up on the board. I think he was added after the Nextel merger.

 

That said the MetroPCS deal was really unpopular with the shareholders and board since, although it makes a lot of sense to us, would have over leveraged Sprint even further than they are now. Had softbank thrown it's hat in the ring earlier the board may have gone for it.

 

I am not sure if Dish may be able to line up the financing necessary to outclass SoftBank and I am not really sure they want to. Dish just wants a seat at the negotiation table.

 

Of course I could be reading the events completely wrong and am leaving my money in my pocket for this.

 

Sent from my EVO LTE

 

 

[Fraydog]

Thanks for that reading, that just confirmed a bunch of my bad instincts about Hance. So the Carlyle Group put him on the BOD? That's confidence inspiring. /s

[JeffDTD]

It makes sense to me that Son would explore what 20 billion will buy him elsewhere before considering raising his sprint bid. Thats smart shopping. Its also possible that he could expand their network and get 3g/4g on 100% of their network more cheaply than he can sew up all sprint's issues and be in the same place. And why not? If Ergen wants to be up to his eyeballs in debt, a messy merger of billing systems, layoffs , clashing cultures, and outrageous capital demands to build service "just about everywhere (as he so eloquently stated sprint needs) at some point u just gotta say "let em have it" and let the bastard bask in what hes done

 

Sent from my Note II. Its so big.

 

[IamMrFamous07]

If dish and sprint does merge *throws up* what will be the benefits? Coverage wise

[ryry4ya]

Double the price for satellite?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[nebody00]

So even after all the hurdles and opposition, Softbank would walk away?  Guess trolling pays off for Ergen/Crest.

[tongboy]

I'm pretty sure he is independent so they didn't put him on per say. It doesn't hurt being an "advisor" to a major shareholder.

 

I don't regard him or the Sprint board at blocking or stopping opportunities as much as just doing there job of representing the shareholders. I do agree with you however if Dish makes an offer that far exceeds SoftBank then they will get it and SoftBank would potentially go after someone else.

 

The tmobile leak is entertaining, probably the truth however the timing of the leak wasn't an accident.

 

Sent from my EVO LTE

 

 

[JeffDTD]

If dish and sprint does merge *throws up* what will be the benefits? Coverage wise

 

Zero until Charlie finds the cash to fund NV 2.0.  It would either be delayed until some of these claimed "Synergies" create additional  cash flow or he will have to go create more debt.  Want to incorporate Clear's spectrum  as well as Dish's spectrum to create a geographic advantage?    Debt.  A Dish/Sprint merger would close no sooner than December 2013/ January 2014, so unless he also coerce's Sprint into pursuing the endeavors he wants before the merger is official, you can look for the next big expansion to start in mid/late 2014 and moreso in 2015.    And needless to say, A Sprint that has been promised to Dish will be filled with a lame duck executive team.  Ergen Wireless will show Hesse and everyone the door who has any kind of conviction about the direction of the company that could challenge Charlie's honor.   Charlie isn't going to stand for anyone telling him any more than he wants to know and anything but what he wants to hear.   Remember, this is the man who is willing to tell the majority shareholder of a company it has no say in the operations of its majority held company.  How do you think he will treat the legacy sprint minority?  Might as well pack up and leave, the bones  would be Captain Howdy's whore to ride as he pleased. 

[ChadBroChillz]

With the debt the company has, I would think higher prices would be coming, and I doubt we would ever see expansion beyond Sprint's current coverage with 800Mhz added in 2014-2015. 

[Rawvega]

A little bit of good news in the midst of this mess...

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ontario-teachers-vote-softbank-sprint-235720710.html

 

 

Ontario Teachers to vote for SoftBank/Sprint deal

 

Reuters – 4 minutes 51 seconds ago

 

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, the fifteenth biggest shareholder in Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N), said on Friday it intends to vote for SoftBank Corp's (9984.T) plan to buy 70 percent of Sprint for $20.1 billion.

 

The pension plan owned 40.2 million shares, or 1.33 percent, of Sprint...

[CorruptionDee]

Like I've stated in the past, shareholders don't actually care about Sprint or their customers. All they care about is the bottom line. If you look only on the surface, $25 billion is > $20 billion. We all know the deception involved in Ergen's offer. The Softbank deal makes sense to anyone with a brain who doesn't want Sprint to go the way of the dinosaur. I can't fault Softbank for weighing their options after what Dish has done to ruin the initial agreement. Sprint is a distant 3rd place right now. They need all the help they can get to push forward with their Network Vision. Softbank will help, Dish will destroy Sprint.

 

If the deal falls through, many people (myself included) will flee the sinking ship and go to TMOBILE. I've been a loyal customer since 99'n but after the Nextel fiasco, I think we can safely say their board doesn't always make the best decisions.

[4GHoward]

The Department of Justice has finish its review of Softbank and Sprint, and they have no objection.

 

Source: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022422365

[DaQue]

The Department of Justice has finish its review of Softbank and Sprint, and they have no objection.

 

Source: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022422365

They just had to rollover on the meta data stuff like Verision.

[supert0nes]

Mike Mullen is designing room 641A in KC right now.

[CorruptionDee]

Usually, most wireless customers don't care much about the financial aspects of a company. However, in this case most of here are a little more invested because we know what Sprint's original plans were for their network vision project. As a customer, I'd like to see Sprint succeed. Competition is a good thing for customers, as it gives people a choice and ensures that companies like AT&T and Verizon can't monopolize the market with their shady business practices.

 

Truth be told, Sprint has an uphill battle without SoftBank. For starters, their network leaves much to be desired in areas throughout the country where Network vision hasn't been completed. Secondly, they're using CDMA with EVDO for 3G data. This is vastly inferior to HSPA+ found on GSM networks like T Mobile and AT&T. Their main competitive advantages will be LTE density and unlimited data. The Network Vision project, which is already behind schedule, takes money to complete. Money that SoftBank will invest to help speed up the process and have LTE 800Mhz and 2600Mhz up and running as soon as possible. Ergen's deal wouldn't be done anytime soon, delaying the buildout even more. SoftBank is hands down the way to go. However, being only a lowly customer I have no say, and I have to essentially "keep the faith" that Sprint's board members can see past the smoke and mirrors within Dish Network's offer.

[WiWavelength]

Mike Mullen is designing room 641A in KC right now.

 

Yes, I believe that is located down in Storage B.

 

 

AJ

[Txmtx]

Mike Mullen is designing room 641A in KC right now.

 

Aahahaha. Basically, my feeling as well after hearing the role MM had joined the party for. And I'm ex-Navy intel, btw. Not sure I like this, one bit.

[jtravers]

Like I've stated in the past, shareholders don't actually care about Sprint or their customers. All they care about is the bottom line. If you look only on the surface, $25 billion is > $20 billion.

Actually, this would only be true if the deal were all cash. Because shareholders will also be receiving shares of the new S/SoftBank or of DISH, the health and strategic position of the post-transaction company is also very important.

[halcyoncmdr]

Actually, this would only be true if the deal were all cash. Because shareholders will also be receiving shares of the new S/SoftBank or of DISH, the health and strategic position of the post-transaction company is also very important.

 

You saying there isn't a decent chunk of shareholders just waiting to get a decent enough windfall and bugger out?

[jtravers]

You saying there isn't a decent chunk of shareholders just waiting to get a decent enough windfall and bugger out?

What windfall? Sprint stock is already trading above the Dish and SoftBank offers, so anyone that wants to cash out can simply sell their shares now.

[S4GRU]

You saying there isn't a decent chunk of shareholders just waiting to get a decent enough windfall and bugger out?

 

What windfall? Sprint stock is already trading above the Dish and SoftBank offers, so anyone that wants to cash out can simply sell their shares now.

And all the people buying now are hedge funds trying to get the current deals to collapse and get a higher price. Anyone buying Sprint stock now for more than any of the offers on the table is rolling the dice on a potential bigger payoff. I think you'd have to be stupid to buy the stock at the current rate. But I'm definitely a conservative investor.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[tongboy]

You saying there isn't a decent chunk of shareholders just waiting to get a decent enough windfall and bugger out?

 

 

 

What windfall? Sprint stock is already trading above the Dish and SoftBank offers, so anyone that wants to cash out can simply sell their shares now.

 

And all the people buying now are hedge funds trying to get the current deals to collapse and get a higher price. Anyone buying Sprint stock now for more than any of the offers on the table is rolling the dice on a potential bigger payoff. I think you'd have to be stupid to buy the stock at the current rate. But I'm definitely a conservative investor.

 

 

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

 

 

It would be interesting to see what the makeup of investors now versus what they were before all these deals began. I see a lot of the same players now as I did then.

 

Sent from my EVO LTE

 

 

[JohnHovah]

Just NO.    If Captain Howdy screws us I can see a mass customer exodus from Sprint as many have hung in for a very long time knowing that things have been getting better and were soon to payoff in a big way.

 

The investors would be screwed as well, since the company would tank under the stranglehold of both charlie's iron fist and the massively over-leveraged debt.  lose-lose here.   Any idiot who has been trying to eek out an extra dollar in this ridiculous fiasco certainly better realize that even they probably won't be able to get out at a premium price before the entire ship sinks.

 

Charlie is the iceberg that will sink the GD titanic that is Sprint. Why are we letting the idiots steer the ship straight for it?

[hescominsoon]

I know dish can't really do anything as Sprint has the majority control of clearwire....but there's various reports that softbank might walk away.  I'm not seeing why that would even be a consideration other than the 5 billion in breakup fees..stocks and whatnot they have.