Dish Drops Out of the Bidding for Sprint

Dish Network declined to submit a new bid for Sprint Nextel by the carrier’s deadline tonight, leaving SoftBank as the wireless company’s lone suitor for the moment.

Sprint’s behavior has “made it impracticable for Dish to submit a revised offer by the June 18th deadline,” Dish said in a statement. “We will consider our options with respect to Sprint” while focusing on a separate offer for Clearwire.” Dish’s decision to end its pursuit of Sprint, clears the way for SoftBank to acquire the carrier. Sprint shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Japanese company’s $21.6 billion takeover offer on June 25.