AppleInsider Staff
Sprint on Wednesday announced that it has successfully completed a deal with Japanese telecommunications and Internet services giant SoftBank, which now owns a controlling 78 percent stake of the U.S. wireless carrier.
As predicted in late June, Sprint closed the deal with SoftBank worth $21.6 billion, reports AllThingsD, giving the Japanese company a 78 percent controlling interest for its investment.
Under the new terms, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse will retain his position, while SoftBank head Masayoshi Son will become take on the role of chairman. SoftBank's U.S. lead Ronald Fisher is to be Sprint’s vice chairman.
The deal closure brings an end to a lengthy takeover process that saw a bidding war between SoftBank and Dish, as well as a separate issue regarding Sprint's purchase of Clearwire. SoftBank first showed interest in Sprint last October.
Wednesday's news was expected, however, as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission gave the green light for the three-way merger last week.
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3 Comments
Sprint has the cash, they have the spectrum, and the Nextel/Clearwire drama is over. No more excuses for terrible data speeds, slow LTE roll out, and spotty coverage.
I'm a sprint customer via Virgin Mobile. I'm hoping for better coverage and maybe LTE.
Sprint. Monkeys running a banana tree of a company.