LIVE: Dish to Softbank: My Wallet is Bigger than Yours – Sprint is Mine!
Sprint is the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. The bidding war for control of Sprint is turning into a ego-driven and heated duel between Dish Network and SoftBank. In an interview with USA Today yesterday, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen called his shot pointing to left-field and swung back at Japan’s SoftBank. The gist? Dish Network’s bid to buy Sprint Nextel is financially superior. He further questioned SoftBank’s ability to grow a U.S. wireless carrier from an ocean away. (Which, despite the stench of Americanism, does hold some water.) Sprint trails AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless in customer count and the reach of its fastest data network, but the company is still a very attractive acquisition target. As third in the U.S., Sprint is a great springboard into the carrier battle with its valuable airwaves and its 51% ownership of another carrier, Clearwire.
On today’s Live NewsDesk Show with Kristin Feledy (see live stream below) we’ll be hearing from SiliconANGLE’s Contributing Editor John Casaretto on who’s the leader in the clubhouse for acquiring Sprint. What are the current offers on the table and how far apart are they? Why is Sprint Nextel such an attractive acquisition to these companies? If they are successful in their bid, what plans does Dish have in store for the acquisition? How about SoftBank?
Image Credit: DigitalTrends.com
Since you’re here …
… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.
If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
