Just a day after the Sprint-Clearwire-Dish Network love triangle took its craziest turn yet, some news regarding Dish and SoftBank's battle for Sprint has surfaced. Dish announced this evening that it doesn't have a new offer for Sprint following the revised agreement struck between Sprint and SoftBank last week.
In a statement issued this evening, Dish explains that factors like the "extreme deal protections" included in that agreement make it "impractical" for it to put together a counteroffer by the June 18 deadline set by Sprint and SoftBank. As a result, Dish says that it will "consider" its options regarding Sprint and focus on getting its deal with Clearwire done.
Sprint and SoftBank first announced their plans to get together back in October 2012, and the two companies recently announced a new agreement that will see SoftBank dropping $21.6 billion for a 78 percent stake in Sprint. Their agreement has already been approved by several U.S. regulatory bodies, including the Justice Department and the Committee on Foreign Investment.
Dish's attempt to acquire Sprint threw a bit of a wrench into SoftBank and Sprint's plans, but now it appears that their deal just got a lot closing to its finish line. While it must still be OK'd by the FCC, neither Sprint nor SoftBank seem concerned about gaining approval, saying that they expect their agreement to reach completion by early July.
Dish today also issued a statement regarding the lawsuit that Sprint has filed against it and Clearwire. Dish describes Sprint's suit as a "transparent attempt to divert attention from its failure to deal fairly with Clearwire’s shareholders," going on to accuse Sprint of trying to block Clearwire's stockholders from getting a fair price for their shares of the company. Finally, Dish says that it's confident that its offer for Clearwire will be upheld. Both of Dish's statements can be found at the links below.
Via Dish Network: Sprint proposal, Sprint complaint
