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

[twospirits]

I'm curious too.

[Romeo]

Sprint Files Lawsuit Against DISH Network Corporation and Clearwire Corporation Citing the Illegality of the DISH Tender Offer for Clearwire. 

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-files-lawsuit-against-dish-network-corporation-and-clearwire-corporation-citing-the-illegality-of-the-dish-tender-offer-for-clearwire.htm?view_id=6791

[ericdabbs]

I guess Dish has until tomorrow, June 18th to come up with a fully finance offer for Sprint or else they are done?  I really want Dish to go away so that the Sprint investors can vote for the Softbank transaction without any more roadblocks.

[Romeo]

I guess Dish has until tomorrow, June 18th to come up with a fully finance offer for Sprint or else they are done?  I really want Dish to go away so that the Sprint investors can vote for the Softbank transaction without any more roadblocks.

That's true Dish has till tomorrow to offer any official bid to Sprint. IMHO I think Sprint is almost a done deal to Softbank. Also I think that Sprint bored, shareholders and Softbank are pissed off from Dish and now  they are fighting for Clearwire. 

[irwinshere]

I guess Dish has until tomorrow, June 18th to come up with a fully finance offer for Sprint or else they are done? I really want Dish to go away so that the Sprint investors can vote for the Softbank transaction without any more roadblocks.

 

I heard that!

 

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[IamMrFamous07]

Do you guys think Dish will make an offer tomorrow? At this point you never know with dish but I would think they would have made a decision today. If they do make a decision, can't sprint just deny the offer?

[ChadBroChillz]

Do you guys think Dish will make an offer tomorrow? At this point you never know with dish but I would think they would have made a decision today. If they do make a decision, can't sprint just deny the offer?

 

I do not think so. Too many poison pills to deal with. The deal has to be fully financed, which means paying fees on the loans to finance. and that does not guarantee that the offer will be chosen. They would likely be forced to add in a 2-3 billion dollar termination fee. They may be forced to pay Softbank back the 3.1 billion dollars worth of shares they got at 5.25/share from Sprint, which I believe have gone up to a total price of around 4.2 billion, because of Sprint's current stock price. Sprint's bond holders oppose the offer.  Also any offer Dish brings would just put the new company in further debt. They already raised the price on Clearwire. 

[Rawvega]

Besides Charlie and his confidants, nobody can say with any certainty. We'll just have to wait and see. He could try and file some kind of bogus lawsuit to stall as revenge for Sprint suing Dish over the Clearwire deal.

[IamMrFamous07]

True. So lets say if dish doesn't compete for sprint do you think sprint and SoftBank will make another offer for Clearwire or do you think they will just ride it out after the lawsuit and wait until November. I just hope this Clearwire battle doesn't delay Clearwire's rollout and triband lte phones in Q3

[JeffDTD]

Besides Charlie and his confidants, nobody can say with any certainty. We'll just have to wait and see. He could try and file some kind of bogus lawsuit to stall as revenge for Sprint suing Dish over the Clearwire deal.

 

This.  Charlie has a scorched earth mentality.  If he can't have Sprint or get his way with Clearwire, he'd just as soon see all of it fail and go up in flames. 

[ChadBroChillz]

True. So lets say if dish doesn't compete for sprint do you think sprint and SoftBank will make another offer for Clearwire or do you think they will just ride it out after the lawsuit and wait until November. I just hope this Clearwire battle doesn't delay Clearwire's rollout and triband lte phones in Q3

 

The cannot amend the EHA without approval of one of the board member, and I doubt that would come since the board now approves of Dish's offer. 

[IamMrFamous07]

The cannot amend the EHA without approval of one of the board member, and I doubt that would come since the board now approves of Dish's offer.

I thought the board doesn't approve Dish's offer?

[JohnHovah]

In Masayoshi's latest move, he is pulling a Captain Howdy of his own to become a major shareholder in his own right. For this I will applaud the man, he was always smart about his investments while keeping his loyal present and future customers a part of his plans.  

 

Charlie not so much.

 

There are absolutely no synergies to be had in an overextended and poorly financed Dish/Sprint deal; whether we are talking spectrum, debt loads, or wanting to hijack Sprint's already taxed airwaves for some pie-in-the-sky video on demand service.  

 

We as the customers don't want that.  We don't want an over-leveraged company that has no plans for moving the company forward or remotely making good on the present overhaul that is slowly benefiting us all and will carry Sprint into a prosperous future, to become a major competitor, the likes of which VZ and AT&T have never seen.

 

From an investment standpoint nobody with half a brain wants an over-leveraged firm swimming in, nay choking on obscene amounts of debt and resultant debt service while stagnating any future growth potential on the ARPU end, on profit, on margins or any other financial metric you want to throw at it.  If you thought Sprint was hungry/thirsty before, you haven't seen anything yet!

 

This will force hardcore customers to leave as well as those tenacious few who are holding on because they see the bright future Sprint has been headed toward.  If it's Charlie's game you can almost guarantee several things from both a customer and investor standpoint:

 

1. a major lack of faith in the brand itself

2, the massive fallout that will occur when large quantities of fed up customers leave because of a lack of investment/advancement/progress in network architecture, quality and reach save for some bullshit bundled add-on for a service that most mainstreamers do not want.

3. The added and much expected (read: higher, more costly, and "premium") price of service increases will push churn through the roof.

 

Everyone loses in that eventuality especially any greedy investors who will not be able to offload their stock fast enough before an inevitable mass market crash.

 

And for those who really don't understand Ergen's psychology or even business practice history, let me make this abundantly clear; No matter what rose-colored glasses Charlie has put on your faces at any point in time, a "real" and "acceptable" and "fully-funded" and "rational" and "substantial" deal with tangible benefits for both customers and investors was never in the cards.  

 

He made his play early on and on multiple occasions (years ago) and his megalomaniac need to control all things eventually forced Sprint to shun any partnership deals shortly after jump.  If anyone ever had any hope for a successful joint venture or partnership between some ass-backward triumvirate of telecom-orgy-love between Hesse/Son/Ergen at any point in the past or the future without taking into account the vanity, hunger and desire or need for absolute control on the Ergen side of ANY equation, I feel truly sorry for you. 

 

 

///END RANT 

[marioc21]

I thought the board doesn't approve Dish's offer?

 

They changed their vote after the most recent DISH offer.

[IamMrFamous07]

So far no offer from Dish *knocks on wood* we should be fine right? Lol

[jefbal99]

I can't wait for Dish's response.  I read a good chunk of the 45 page complaint and I expect the response to be "Wwwwwaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!  Give me Spectrum and a network for free!!!! Wwwwwwwaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!"

 

I had honestly forgotten about how much of Clearwire's debt Dish had purchased.  It makes much more sense their approach and annoyance.  If Clearwaire ends up in bankruptcy, all Dish will say is "Give me the towers and spectrum, I'm covered."

[irwinshere]

I can't wait for Dish's response. I read a good chunk of the 45 page complaint and I expect the response to be "Wwwwwaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Give me Spectrum and a network for free!!!! Wwwwwwwaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!"

 

I had honestly forgotten about how much of Clearwire's debt Dish had purchased. It makes much more sense their approach and annoyance. If Clearwaire ends up in bankruptcy, all Dish will say is "Give me the towers and spectrum, I'm covered."

 

That is what i am afraid of.

 

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[ChadBroChillz]

 

 http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/dish-says-it-wont-submit-a-new-offer-for-sprint-ahead-of-deadline/

 

Dish will not be submitting a new offer. They will now focus on Clearwire's tender offer. 

 

SB-S have them in a corner. Now time for the knockout round. 

[cletus]

 

 

 http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/dish-says-it-wont-submit-a-new-offer-for-sprint-ahead-of-deadline/

 

Dish will not be submitting a new offer. They will not focus on Clearwire's tender offer. 

 

SB-S have them in a corner. Now time for the knockout round. 

 

Good news! They can focus on their nonactionable offer for Clearwire all they want. It won't be agreed to without changes that will diminish the influence they can have over Sprint. Sprint does need Clearwire badly in order to succeed though as it has the least spectrum of the 4 carriers without Clearwire and the most with it.

[ericdabbs]

 

 

 http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/dish-says-it-wont-submit-a-new-offer-for-sprint-ahead-of-deadline/

 

Dish will not be submitting a new offer. They will not focus on Clearwire's tender offer. 

 

SB-S have them in a corner. Now time for the knockout round. 

 

 

Thank goodness.  The bigger question is, does Sprint have enough minority votes in favor of the Sprint/Softbank deal to get this closed once and for all on June 25th?

[irwinshere]

Awesome. Now maybe softbank will sneak in and buy a few clearwire shares from a few uncommited holders.

 

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[PythonFanPA]

 

 

 http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/dish-says-it-wont-submit-a-new-offer-for-sprint-ahead-of-deadline/

 

Dish will not be submitting a new offer. They will not focus on Clearwire's tender offer. 

 

SB-S have them in a corner. Now time for the knockout round. 

 

 

Probably want to edit that 'not' to 'now'....kind of a critical typo there. 

[Rawvega]

 

“While DISH continues to see strategic value in a merger with Sprint, the decisions made by Sprint to prematurely terminate our due diligence process and accept extreme deal protections in its revised agreement with SoftBank, among other things, have made it impracticable for DISH to submit a revised offer by the June 18th deadline imposed by Sprint. We will consider our options with respect to Sprint, and focus our efforts and resources on completing the Clearwire tender offer.”

 

 

The bolded part still has me a bit leery.

[IamMrFamous07]

The bolded part still has me a bit leery.

I'm sure all would be fine. Dish is out the way for now so all we now is for SoftBank/sprint transaction to go through plus we need Clearwire

[Ryan]

Hopefully Mary "DISH" Poppins keeps the tricks in the bag....and we can get this merger finished. The consumers are the victims in this mess.

 

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