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

[HelplessSEAL]

Apparently, Softbank intends to purchase Sprint Nextel. Opinions guys?

WSJ reports that they are in the later stages of a buyout...

What does this mean for us!!!??

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444799904578050104132737498.html

[lynyrd65]

Yep it's not often you see Railroads and Banks jumping in the telecom game..

 

Well they both had to deal with wild west robbers. Maybe working together will finally put it to an end.

 

[xcharles718]

As long as SoftBank brings their Hello Kitty Android phone to the US, I'm all for it.

 

http://mb.softbank.j...p/831sh_kt.html

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Now i'm 100% pro-buyout(well, 75% buyout).

Now only if I had some money to lobby....

[WiWavelength]

As long as SoftBank brings their Hello Kitty Android phone to the US, I'm all for it.

 

http://mb.softbank.j...p/831sh_kt.html

 

Speaking of which, I just started catching up on back episodes of "J-Pop America Fun Time Now!" so I realistically know what to expect from our new Softbank sensei.

 

 

AJ

[UndeadNexus]

I, for one, welcome our new Japanese overlords

 

 

Jokes asides, I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, Sprint will benefit from this and hopefully accelerate NV rollouts. On the other, I'm sure SoftBank will make some major changes. I just hope they keep the Sprint name.

 

BTW that Hello Kitty phone looks so smexy XD

[alphnasx]

i might be wrong, but i don't think this deal will happen. SoftBank is paying too little for Sprint. AT&T/ Tmo deal was valued at abt $32Bil (older network & less subs) Sprint is worth closer to $35Bil - 40Bil+. Sprint will be profitable in 2014 or early too

Edited October 11, 2012 by alphnasx

[JeffDTD]

I would love a j-pop sprint commercial....

 

Why not just call all the mobile carriers softbank owns "splint" and take this old horse international

[S4GRU]

I' date=' for one, welcome our new Japanese overlords

[/quote']

 

I thought this was very funny. It just made me laugh and laugh.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

[xcharles718]

How long you guys think until they make the sale official?

[Boosted20V]

How long you guys think until they make the sale official?

 

Right now this is all speculation. We know there are talks but this leaking probably hurts the chances it will occur.

[xcharles718]

 

Right now this is all speculation. We know there are talks but this leaking probably hurts the chances it will occur.

I personally have no qualms about this sale, but all this talking can make this a more expensive deal for SoftBank(either pay more to get 75% or get a smaller cut).

 

I (tentatively) welcome our new Japanese overlords

 

Also....I get to use this awesome sig

[JohnHovah]

Thanks Robert, this thread got buried for me, you can delete my duplicate

[Tomas]

Right now this is all speculation. We know there are talks but this leaking probably hurts the chances it will occur.

 

...then again, this might be a "strategic leak" by Sprint to gauge public and market acceptance, AND to lower the percentage SoftBank will get for it's money...

 

At this level of play, even just a whispered word in the right ear can be worth a whole lot of money or influence in the deal.

[xcharles718]

...then again, this might be a "strategic leak" by Sprint to gauge public and market acceptance, AND to lower the percentage SoftBank will get for it's money...

 

At this level of play, even just a whispered word in the right ear can be worth a whole lot of money or influence in the deal.

I do wonder that if this deal fails through, SoftBank might just buy T-Mobile USA.

[Guest 503ducati]

...then again, this might be a "strategic leak" by Sprint to gauge public and market acceptance, AND to lower the percentage SoftBank will get for it's money...

 

At this level of play, even just a whispered word in the right ear can be worth a whole lot of money or influence in the deal.

According to Bloomberg this has been in talks for the last several months now. Deal completed next week?

 

 

 

VIDEO http://www.bloomberg...?cmpid=msnmoney

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/10/11/dealpolitik-what-is-softbank-up-to-with-sprint/?mod=msn_money_ticker

 

Edited October 12, 2012 by 503ducati

[ChadBroChillz]

I would prefer it be less than 50%. I do not know how SoftBank runs its company, and would not want them messing up the good thing sprint has started with hesse.

[JohnHovah]

Softbank hopes to close the 75 percent acquisition deal on December 7.

 

AJ

 

D-Day for sure

[xcharles718]

D-Day for sure

Would Dan stay?

[JohnHovah]

Meh...it may be an over generalization on my part, but what markets well to Japanese audiences typically doesn't to American audiences.

 

It usually does, except for pop culture, in which case Japan is generally 3 decades behind on what American audience want

[JohnHovah]

Would Dan stay?

 

Optimistically, yes - considering how he has been able to turn Sprint around and set it in more or less the right direction and headed toward a cash positive future in a few years. I was waiting for an equity stake announcement to shore up Sprint's short term financials to get them through NV faster and help with potential future buyouts. The T-Mobile rumor has abounded for quite some time and it seems that Softbank may have found a way around regulatory hurdles through majority ownership of Sprint in pursuing the deal again.

 

Realistically, it could go either way as they may have some other thoughts on where they want sprint to head. If they do let Dan go in his current capacity, I'm sure he will receive a hefty severance or if stepping down as Chairman may stay on the board with a sizable stock option (but that is probably more on the optimistic side)

 

but if you want to play worst case scenario, we may see another large-scale catastrophe or series of minor events that cumulatively destroy the future of softbank/sprint. Perhaps Japanese bank implosion or large-scale global financial meltdown, a nuclear disaster or attack, tsunamis, earthquakes, ww3, civil war in the US, alien invasions or even Godzilla for crying out loud. {sarcasm}. Either way it will be an amazing thing to behold. Whether that is an amazing and spectacular tragedy remains largely to be seen, but I'm leaning more towards the positive side of things and am glad they inked out all of the fine print, crossed their "t's"and dotted their "i's". The official announcement has taken (most) everyone by surprise, but with hindsight being 20-20 you can see where all of the pieces fit into place and how all of the players on the stage acted the part very well. Whether Sprint, Dan, T-Mobile, DT, Softbank or the rest, you can now put the pieces together fairly easily.

 

I don't believe there was any coincidence that:

 

1. T-Mobile made out with a nice chunk of change from the failed merger (which was never going to pass regulatory scrutiny anyway)

2. T-Mobile acquired a nice chunk of spectrum

3. Sprint lobbied against the doomed merger/buyout citing regulatory concerns

4. Softbank failed at their initial buyout of US carriers

5. D-T has been pursuing an exit strategy in various ways which clearly were to fail

6. Sprint has kept clearwire on life support but managed to put spectrum to use so it would not be lost while maintaining majority control of the company but not much of the liabilty.

 

My post is getting a little long winded but there are countless pieces that fell in to place at the right times all around. Most of this was more or less smoke and mirrors to consolidate spectrum holdings while keeping the big 2 from cannibalizing all of the 4th and lower tier carriers and their respective customers and spectrum holdings.

 

 

On the note of name change. Likely there will be some change but not too major. (softsprint? j/k) Perhaps they will just change the name to NOW and drop the "Now Network " mantra/slogan completely for something pertaining to the future

[borf]

Make no mistake: If this happens, Softbank is here to go to war with the domestic providers. The US market hasn't had real competition for years... Verizon and AT&T do everything short of outright collusion to get richer and fatter. Softbank will hand them their asses... just watch.

 

Read Softbanks history and you'll see they rose to number two in Japan because they were incredibly aggressive on price. I have little doubt they're banking (hah!) on that working here too. It will! It would be awesome for the US consumer and could change the whole industry for the much better.

 

My only worry in the deal is personal... I'd rather not lose the privileges that come with being a customer for almost 15 years.

 

EDIT: Wow... a timely opinion piece that supports my thesis:

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2012/10/11/us-consumers-need-softbank-to-buy-sprint/

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Edited October 12, 2012 by borf

[aerxx]

My only worry in the deal is personal... I'd rather not lose the privileges that come with being a customer for almost 15 years.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

This is what I have been thinking about all day.....I dont want to become a number for some foreign company's bank statement....

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using JB 4.1.1

[Tomas]

I also have mixed feelings about this. I can see some tremendous advantages to Sprint getting the influx of money and some fresh ideas - but I do not want to lose my "current position" as a long term Sprint customer with an excellent grandfathered plan...

Sent from Photon Q LTE - Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

I am not a long term customer, so I am not concerned about my personal position. And I know my personal position is actually most impacted by the duopoly. So anything that Softbank can do to strengthen Sprint's position and better compete against the duopoly is better for me. Better for us all. Even better for the long term Sprint customers, all things considered.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

[TH4RO]

Am I the only one that thinks it odd that they formally acknowledged the deal? I cannot help but think we are missing the real player Sprint wants to step up and put a bid on the table. I have been expecting something but this came out of left field.