Is the drama involving Clearwire Corporation, Sprint Nextel and the rest of the telecom industry over? Perhaps. Clearwire shareholders have officially voted to accept the takeover bid from Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), reports CNET’s Marguerite Reardon.
The Deal For Clearwire
Clearwire’s board agreed to the deal last month, and today shareholders took the last step in the process and voted it through. The final deal, as approved by shareholders, is for Sprint to buy the other half of Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR) for $5 per share. Sprint already owns half of the wireless carrier. That deal could close as early as tomorrow.
Bloomberg’s Madeline McMahon and Dina Bass report that 82 percent of the shares that were eligible to vote on the Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) acquisition voted in favor of the deal.
Clearwire Clears The Way For Sprint And Softbank
DISH had been attempting to steal Clearwire away from Sprint Nextel, but it finally dropped out, leaving Sprint as the only remaining suitor for the company. Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) wanted to buy Clearwire in order to gain the company’s wireless spectrum.
The acquisition of Clearwire by Sprint is the final piece (at least for now) of the puzzle for Softbank Corp. (TYO:9984) (PINK:SFTBF) and its push toward becoming the world’s largest mobile carrier. The Japanese carrier has been trying to buy Sprint since October, and it has been argued that in order for Sprint to buy Clearwire, it needed the cash from Softbank’s buyout.
Utilizing Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR)’s wireless spectrum will enable Sprint to offer faster download speeds across more of the U.S., which is an important part of Softbank Corp. (TYO:9984) (PINK:SFTBF)’s plan to expand around the globe. Sprint is currently the third biggest carrier in the U.S., but experts say that with Clearwire’s spectrum, the company will have more spectrum than Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).
DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) had tried to steal Sprint away from Softbank as well, but it didn’t prevail in that attempt either. DISH pulled its offer for Sprint after Softbank upped its bid to top the DISH offer.
