Andre Yoskowitz
11 Oct 2012 11:33
Large Japanese carrier Softbank is in active talks to buy a major stake in Sprint Nextel, confirms the American carrier.
The majority stake would cost Softbank 1 trillion yen, or about $12.75 billion USD.
Sprint's stock has jumped 20 percent today following the news. The news is especially notable since Sprint only has a market value of $17 billion, meaning the Softbank stake will likely be very substantial.
The company is the third largest carrier in the U.S. behind Verizon and AT&T but ahead of T-Mobile, who is also looking to boost subscribers and spectrum by merging with pre-paid king MetroPCS.
Softbank is worth about $40 billion and is led by Japan's second-richest man, Masayoshi Son. The company recently purchased eAccess in Japan for $1.84 billion, giving it 39 million subscribers. Sprint has 56 million in the U.S.