From DailyTech: Bloomberg is reporting that Softbank Corp. (TYO:9984) has secured enough financing to cover a bid for T-Mobile U.S. Inc. (TMUS) in June or July in a move that could shake up the U.S. wireless network race.
The roots of the deal lie in T-Mobile U.S.'s current majority owner's desire to sell the brand, and Softbank's desire to expand its American holdings.
Softbank made a name for itself in Japan by its strong marketing, aggressive acquisitions, and dedication to infrastructure improvement. But faced with a slowly shrinking market in Japan (whose population is expected to shrink in half by around 2100 due to low birth rates) it in Oct. 2012 made a bold move bidding for Sprint Nextel. After a bidding war with DISH Network Corp. (DISH) it emerged victorious last year and Sprint Corp. (S) was born, with Softbank holding 80 percent of shares and public investors holding the remaining shares.
The deal has produced a remarkable turnaround at the money-losing Sprint, which before the deal was teetering dangerously close to bankrupcy. Now it's almost cash-neutral and has stopped its bleed in subscribers. Sprint is currently in third place in the U.S. market with about 54 million customers.
T-Mobile U.S. was formed over a decade before in 2001, via Deutsche Telekom AG's (ETR:DTE) purchase of Powertel and Voicestream (a successor to the defunct Western Wireless Corp.). For nearly a decade and a half Deutsche Telekom has managed the brand, which it owns 67 percent in. And that brand was struggling.
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