Dish gives up on Clearwire, nothing is in Sprint’s way now
Dish Network has finally given up on all its attempts to acquire Clearwire, clearing the way for Sprint to complete the acquisition at a lofty $5 per share. It was a long and hard battle, and comes just days after Dish also backed down on its attempts to purchase Sprint. This means that there’s nothing in the way for Sprint to fully own Clearwire, and then for Softbank to own a 78% stake in that newly formed company.
Dish looked to be the clear victor at several different points in time, but as it turns out, it just didn’t value Clearwire as much as Sprint did. Sprint (and Softbank) will now control the most spectrum – and some of the most valuable spectrum – in the United States, which will hopefully go a long way in making its network perform much better. Clearwire’s board will vote on July 8 to approve the transaction.
So where does this leave Dish? With plan A and plan B both in the toilet, there are many speculations about what Dish Network’s plan C is. The three most probably possibilities that are being thrown around are:
- Dish will seek a merger with T-Mobile.
- Dish will seek a merger with DirecTV.
- Dish will be acquired by AT&T.
Each of these possibilities will come with its own set of hurdles to overcome, so things are bound to remain interesting for Dish.
[Dish | Light Reading] Thanks, Bill!
