Sprint, Looking to Get Bigger to Survive, Weighs Deal-Making
The Japanese company would own a majority of the new entity, even though Sprint’s market
value, at $34 billion, represents roughly a third of Charter’s $99 billion.
From Sprint’s perspective, a cable company would help give the telecom company the wired backbone it needs to upgrade its wireless service to 5G.
Sprint had already held discussions with Charter and Comcast about selling access to its wireless network,
which would have let the two bundle mobile service with their pay-TV and broadband offerings.
The convoluted deal would involve SoftBank forming a new company to acquire both Sprint and Charter.
Son first bought control of the embattled wireless company in 2013 for nearly $22 billion, and then quickly embarked on a pursuit of T-Mobile.
Sprint, controlled by Mr. Son’s SoftBank, has long lagged behind the two titans of American wireless, Verizon
and AT&T, each of which has more subscribers than Sprint and T-Mobile combined.
