Sprint Questions Dish-Clearwire Bid

Sprint Nextel raised objections over Dish Network's tender offer to acquire Clearwire, saying the bid is "not actionable", continuing the complicated drama over control of the mobile broadband provider that is majority-owned by Sprint.

In a letter to Clearwire's board, Sprint said Dish's bid of $4.40 a share for Clearwire last week—made just before a planned shareholder vote on a buyout by Sprint—isn't workable without Sprint's approval. Sprint, which has had disagreements with network partner Clearwire, says that Dish is requesting certain governance rights from Clearwire that can't be legally handed over without consent of Sprint and some other shareholders. "Sprint will enforce its legal and contractual rights. Thus, the Dish proposal is not actionable," the letter, signed by Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse, says. A Clearwire spokeswoman said a special committee of the company's board is continuing its review of the Dish bid and hasn't yet made a determination to change its recommendation for the Sprint deal. Clearwire won't make further comments until the review is complete, she said. In its letter, Sprint seemed to be reminding Clearwire of their relationship, noting that Clearwire cannot "simply take away those rights when convenient to benefit a minority stockholder that finds such bargained-for rights inconvenient or limiting to its desire to extract extra gain."