JimBob

The vehicles provide cash in the form of (hopefully low interest) loans specifically for device/equipment purchases and network buildout. Since more cash goes out of Sprint and than comes in, the threat was that the company would literally run out of cash to keep the lights on. To get more cash, Sprint might have needed to issue more high-interest company bonds (debt) that my buyers may not want or issue more shares (at really low prices diluting current shareholders). Running out of cash is accelerated my the new leasing and Easy Pay plans that force Sprint to buy full-price devices up front and then wait for customers to pay for it in installments. The SoftBank-engineered vehicles will in theory handle all those cash transactions (such as upfront payment for devices), thus leaving Sprint still being able to pay its other day-to-day bills (such as employee paychecks! and interest payments on older debt from banks, etc.) with cash while adding more "paper" debt to Sprint's balance sheet.

SoftBank does not "cover" anything. They approve a child company's spending as the majority owner with Masayoshi Son as Chairman/father. Sprint still takes on the tens of billions of dollars of debt to build the network.

What is the implication for Sprint and Netflix in America?

Really good biographic article. I encourage everyone to read it! Any pics of Claure's house in Kansas? Must be huge to have accomodated 300+ people for a Fourth of July "gathering."

After immediately crashing down over 11% to $3.98 this morning, Sprint shares quickly stabilized to $4.60 as of now. I wonder if it was SoftBank that rushed in and bought some more.

SoftBank bought yet another $70 million of Sprint yesterday at an average price of $4.80 How long are they going to keep supporting the stock? http://www.octafinance.com/why-softbank-group-corp-acquired-14-67-million-stock-of-sprint-corp-nyses/

Warren Buffet still lives in the same modest house he bought with his wife for $31,500 in 1957. Buffet lives below his means like the average millionaire does. "Us schmucks" need to follow their example!

SoftBank bought another 4.5 million Sprint shares yesterday. Meanwhile, SoftBank President Nikesh Arora will use his own money to buy $483 million of SoftBank stock. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/softbank-s-arora-to-buy-483-million-of-stock-as-personal-bet-

How will this additional cost affect Dish's bid for T-Mobile US?

Print out and paste the Sprint logo onto your phone.

Friends - we already have another T-Mobile discussion thread.

CEO of Patterson Advisory Group calls for Sprint to set a "defined victory", such as adding 23 million customers within four years. http://www.rcrwireless.com/20150818/opinion/reality-check-sprint-at-claures-1-year-anniversary-tag12

Marcelo Claure talks this morning about Sprint's decision to eliminate two-year service contracts, plans for its network and SoftBank's increased stake in the company: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-08-18/sprint-to-use-entire-spectrum-for-competitive-edge-ceo

SoftBank increased its stake in Sprint a second time this month, acquiring $73 million of stock. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-18/softbank-boosts-sprint-stake-again-with-73-million-share-buy

Sprint to End Two-Year Contracts http://www.wsj.com/articles/sprint-to-abandon-two-year-contracts-1439837235

Shentel realigns top management following nTelos acquisition http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/shentel-realigns-top-management-following-ntelos-acquisition/2015-08-17

How many Sprint customers are still using iPhone 5s handsets or older, which do not support LTE B41? While I am an Android user, I hope this iPhone Forever program significantly increases triband penetration (w/ the iPhone 6) as well as carrier aggregation (w/ the iPhone 6s).

All throughout this morning, there have been repeated multi-million dollar puchases of Sprint stock...

Which Kansas City neighborhood does Marcelo Claure live in?

A few years ago, Ford Motor Company (F) and Bank of America (BAC) were trading in the single digits.

T-Mobile has been outspending AT&T, Verizon and Sprint on TV ads. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-mobile-outspent-att-verizon-and-sprint-tv-ads-july/2015-08-12

I would support a name change if there was a merger or buyout. Otherwise, keep the name Sprint. T-Mobile did not need a name change to turn around.

Claure has a $1 billion net worth. He can and should buy more Sprint!

It makes sense to buy back more of your own company "on the cheap"; much better practice than many companies that buy back shares when their stock price is already inflated. I do want to know how close Softbank will get to the 85% ownership threshold. Right now, SoftBank's open market purchases of Sprint have put a $4 floor on the stock price. Next desired announcement is that Marcelo Claure also bought millions more shares.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Another case study is Sprint's buyout of the minority stake of Clearwire. Minority shareholders did not escalate to outright litigation, but the majority owner Sprint ended up paying out $5/share in July 2013 instead of the original $2.97/share it tried to get in December 2012.