Sprint Nextel Corp. is under increasing pressure to open up its books to Dish Network Corp., which is arranging the financing it would need to outbid SoftBank Corp. with a $25.5 billion takeover offer. Dish is already raising about $2.6 billion in a bond offering and it’s also close to tapping the same banks for loans to help reach its goal of $9.3 billion in financing for the Sprint transaction, sources say.
Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen said he could end up putting the entire satellite TV company up for sale if he looses his battle with Japan’s SoftBank Corp to buy Sprint Nextel Corp.
Dish offered $25.5 billion in cash and stock today for Sprint, which Dish says beats the offer from Japan’s Softbank Corp. Softbank is offering $20 billion in cash, and shareholders get to keep 30% of Sprint. Dish is offering $17.3 billion in cash, and Sprint shareholders get 32% of the combined Dish-Sprint.
The stifling of innovation and putting too much power in the hands of too few are at the heart of concerns expressed by Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel Corp.
