Sprint may have previously said that its bid of $3.40 per share for Clearwire was its "best and final offer," but it looks like the big yellow carrier has had a change of heart. Sprint just announced that it has upped its bid for the portion of Clearwire that it doesn't already own to $5.00 per share, besting Dish Network's recent offer of $4.40 per share. Sprint's latest bid for Clearwire is nearly double the original $2.97 per share offer that it made late last year.
In addition to announcing its new bid, Sprint has revealed that a large group of minority Clearwire stockholders have agreed to vote in favor of this new $5.00 per share bid. Sprint says that 45 percent of Clearwire's minority shareholders have agreed to vote in favor of its new bid. Meanwhile, Clearwire announced that its board of directors have switched their recommendation from Dish's offer to Sprint's. Clearwire has also decided to postpone its June 24 shareholder vote on this situation until July 8.
It's kind of crazy to see Sprint boost its bid for Clearwire from $3.40 per share to $5.00 per share, even though it previously said that $3.40 was its "best and final offer," but I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint has gotten even hungrier for Clearwire now that its deal with SoftBank looks like it'll happen. Dish and Sprint are clearly now locked in a bidding war for Clearwire, and it'll be interesting to see what Dish comes back with. The company recently dropped its attempt to acquire Sprint and said that it planned to focus on its Clearwire offer, so I'm sure that Dish will have something to say about this new $5.00 bid from Sprint. Do you think that Dish will come back with a higher offer for Clearwire?
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