Late last year, Softbank, the Japanese Carrier was reported to be purchasing two-thirds of Sprint. Softbank has, now, officially completed a $21.6 billion deal to take over Sprint, giving it about 78 percent ownership of the new Sprint.
In a statement to the media, Softbank Said, “We have purchased approximately 72 percent of Sprint shares for $7.65 per share in cash, while the remaining shares have been converted into a new publicly-traded entity named Sprint Corporation (dropping the Nextel from its name). Investors will still see the same ticker symbol ‘S’ used by Sprint on the New York Stock Exchange.”
In light of this merger, US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said, “The decision is a good day for all Americans who use mobile broadband services. It would help grow the deployment of mobile broadband services while enhancing competition in the mobile marketplace.” The FCC had given its regards to Softbank and Sprint on their mergers earlier this month, after which only the deal got finalized.
Sprint had earlier completed an acquisition of wireless high-speed Internet with service provider Clearwire also. Hence, Softbank now effectively has control of both companies, which will help the collaboration compete better with leading rival wireless providers. For this, Softbank offered $5 billion to invest in Sprint’s network and provide wireless broadband service.
Other than FCC, Softbank had had a major war to win against Dish Networks, which said that that national security would be at risk if Sprint was owned by a foreign company. To concede that argument, Softbank created a national security committee, with each member approved by the US government. One of them would be a security director and sit on the new Sprint board and the person is now being speculated to be retired Admiral Mike Mullen.