Sprint in talks to be acquired by South Korean company

[eazyb81]

How funny would it be to see a KC flagship in Sprint get bought out by a foreign corporation right after the same thing happened to Anheuser Busch, a STL flagship?

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN1534758720080715

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote (http://www.reuters.com/stocks/quote?symbol=S.N), Profile (http://www.reuters.com/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=S.N), Research (http://www.reuters.com/stocks/researchReports?symbol=S.N), Stock Buzz (http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/S)) shares rose almost 14 percent on Tuesday after CNBC reported that South Korea's SK Telecom Co (017670.KS: Quote (http://www.reuters.com/stocks/quote?symbol=017670.KS), Profile (http://www.reuters.com/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=017670.KS), Research (http://www.reuters.com/stocks/researchReports?symbol=017670.KS), Stock Buzz (http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/017670)) was in talks to buy the No. 3 U.S. wireless service.

According to the television network, which did not name any sources for the story, a deal between the companies would be friendly and the biggest takeover by a South Korean company of a U.S. company.

Sprint has been struggling to stem customer losses amid customer service problems and issues integrating its 2005 purchase of Nextel Communications.

Sprint declined comment and SK representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Sprint shares rose $1.15 at $9.41 after the news.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Andre Grenon)

[beach tribe]

America. The great sell-out.

[Monty]

My Inbox at work is flooded with this stuff already.

[markk]

Two disastrous mergers did Sprint in, the failed one with Worldcom and the failed one with Nextel.

[Ultra Peanut]

The NASCAR South Korea Telecom Cup. **** yes.

[BigRedChief]

Not bad for KC anyway. The campus and I.T. jobs should mainly stay here as opposed to say Verizon buying them out and moving them to Washington.

[picasso]

South Korea doesn't even have running water or modern vehicles. They herd featherless chickens, ride old trashed bicycles, and eat fried spiders and bats. Sprint is like a toothless old crack ho on the corner sellin it for cheap.

[ChiefsCountry]

If they leave their operations in KC, it wouldnt be that bad of a deal. Lord knows Sprint needs somebody smart leading it.

[morphius]

The NASCAR South Korea Telecom Cup. **** yes.
Being won by Toyota, lol

[eazyb81]

Reuters has now come out and said the talk between the two companies is about sharing technology, not merging. We will see....

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1534758720080715

[teedubya]

South Korea is one of the most advanced countries pertaining to mobile technology.

[Spott]

If they were going to get bought out, I would guess it would be either one of the big Ma Bell companies(AT&T or Verizon).

[Anyong Bluth]

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121615300294655639.html), following up on the CNBC report, says that the two companies have been in preliminary talks “to form a strategic partnership to develop new handsets and services,” according to “people familiar with the matter.” But the WSJ says that the company are not discussing an outright merger.


Looks like its more of a Joint Venture thing, and IMO opinion a great idea for Sprint.

S.Korea has some of the most advanced phones / networks and runs off CDMA - like Sprint. Everyone slobs over GSM, but if you know anything about the future version of wireless networks, GSM will eventually be streamed into CDMA based technology because it handles Data Packet transfers so much better. CDMA's downfall has been higher battery consumption - which are being addressed with better batteries now and in the future.

Sprint has the most advanced network of any of the providers. Their downfall has been taking on 2 horrible mergers, and letting Customer Service get so bad it literally drove people away. They are getting better about their customer service from what I've heard, and now need to get back to having the most advanced phone lineup in the business- like they did when they 1st started up.

If Sprint would have taken on the Iphone, they would be rolling! The Iphone on a network that can actually take advantage of broadband wireless connections would be a wet dream!

[Mr. Flopnuts]

America. The great sell-out.

It's not like we have a choice. The world has caught up to our capitalistic ways, and have figured, "If we can't out gun them, we can definitely out buy them." It's not proving to be inaccurate at this point either.

The Super Power days are over. Get used to an America that is a 2nd rate World citizen. It's very near.

[TRR]

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<BIG class=pr>Reuters</BIG>
Sprint, SK talks on technology, not acquisition
Tuesday July 15, 5:31 pm ET
By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Telecom Co Ltd (017670.KS) and Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE:S (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=s) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=s)) are in preliminary talks about collaborating on technology and not discussing a merger, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
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Sprint shares closed 9.44 percent higher.
"There are no acquisition talks going on right now between SK Telecom and Sprint. Any discussions that are going on are around technology collaboration," said one source, who asked not to be named because the person was not authorized to talk on the subject.
Two people said the technology talks were at an early stage.
Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, also said there were no acquisition talks. Sprint had already rejected a $5 billion investment by SK and a group of private equity firms, according to reports last year.
Both SK and Sprint run wireless networks based on the same CDMA technology, which is widely used in the United States. They have also been looking at the emerging WiMAX technology for next-generation high-speed wireless data.
Sprint has struggled with customer service problems and issues integrating its 2005 Nextel Communications acquisition.
Sprint spokesman James Fisher declined comment and SK representatives were not immediately available for comment. Sprint shares, which have fallen 30 percent since the end of last year, closed up 78 cents at $9.04 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Additional reporting by Jessica Hall in Philadelphia; Editing by Andre Grenon)


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[banyon]

That weak a** dollar and foreign owned debt is coming home to roost.

[Coach]

It's embarrasing that the companies, or pride of America if you will, are getting owned by foregin countries.

WTF is going on here?

[jAZ]

America. The great sell-out.

"deficits don't matter" - Dick Cheney (http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/personal-investing-guide/2007/10/11/behind-the-weak-dollar-.html)

[CrazyPhuD]

Soju is the Debbil!

[Ultra Peanut]

That weak a** dollar and foreign owned debt is coming home to roost.Don't you dare suggest that our actions in the past may turn out to negatively affect us. Why do you hate America?

[Anyong Bluth]

That weak a** dollar and foreign owned debt is coming home to roost.


"Yeah, we're subsidmidizing and making the dollar weaker to gain the upper hand in imports and exports or something.... I think" - George W. Bush.