Those who have watched the Clearwire/Sprint saga unfold over the last two years know that Sprint has done everything it could to put Clearwire into bankruptcy. It starved it of cash. It became abusive of its management. All Sprint’s machinations were designed to drive Clearwire into the ditch so Sprint could buy it back at a very cheap price. In the middle of its efforts, it not only sank Clearwire’s stock, Sprint's management did a truly excellent job of putting its own stock down to a low of $2.10. Softbank’s Masayoshi Son made a bid for majority control of Sprint in the fall of 2012. Sprint and Son are vulnerable because the FCC must approve the proposed acquisition of a 70% interest in Sprint by a foreign entity. At the time the deal was announced, Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse insisted that Son had no interest in Clearwire. Then just weeks later, Sprint made a ridiculously low bid for the rest of Clearwire it didn’t already own at $2.97. It is my belief that Sprint has little to bring to Softbank’s table other than its interest in Clearwire. In fact, without Softbank’s money it can’t even buy the part of Clearwire it doesn’t already own. It is a debt laden, ill run company that has been failing for years. I's management didn’t even know in 2011 that if it forced Clearwire into bankruptcy it was the bondholders and not Sprint who would stand the best chance of acquiring that frequency. The waters are muddy because much of the 2.5 Ghz spectrum is “rented” from charitable, educational, and religious institutions who were given it by the U.S Government and not controlled outright by Clearwire.
Those who have watched the Clearwire/Sprint saga unfold over the last two years know that Sprint has done everything it could to put Clearwire into bankruptcy. It starved it of cash. It became abusive of its management. All Sprint’s machinations were designed to drive Clearwire into the ditch so Sprint could buy it back at a very cheap price. In the middle of its efforts, it not only sank Clearwire’s stock, Sprint's management did a truly excellent job of putting its own stock down to a low of $2.10. Softbank’s Masayoshi Son made a bid for majority control of Sprint in the fall of 2012. Sprint and Son are vulnerable because the FCC must approve the proposed acquisition of a 70% interest in Sprint by a foreign entity. At the time the deal was announced, Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse insisted that Son had no interest in Clearwire. Then just weeks later, Sprint made a ridiculously low bid for the rest of Clearwire it didn’t already own at $2.97. It is my belief that Sprint has little to bring to Softbank’s table other than its interest in Clearwire. In fact, without Softbank’s money it can’t even buy the part of Clearwire it doesn’t already own. It is a debt laden, ill run company that has been failing for years. I's management didn’t even know in 2011 that if it forced Clearwire into bankruptcy it was the bondholders and not Sprint who would stand the best chance of acquiring that frequency. The waters are muddy because much of the 2.5 Ghz spectrum is “rented” from charitable, educational, and religious institutions who were given it by the U.S Government and not controlled outright by Clearwire.
