Dish Launches Clearwire Bid

Satellite giant's $3.30 per share offer could trump Sprint

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2013 7:40:15 PM

Dish Network launched a surprise bid for Clearwire late Tuesday, offering more than $5 billion for the troubled WiMax pioneer and potentially setting the stage for a battle for control with its largest shareholder Sprint Nextel.

In a brief statement Tuesday, Dish said that it had approached Clearwire and made an offer of $3.30 per share for its outstanding stock, a bid that would appear to far outpace the $2.97 per share that Sprint-Nextel agreed to pay for the remaining shares it does not already own in the WiMax pioneer.

"We look forward to working with Clearwire's Special Committee as it evaluates our proposal," said Dish executive VP of corporate development Tom Cullen in a statement. Dish said it would have no further comment.

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