Dish Increases Its Bid for Clearwire

Dish Network has increased its bid for mobile-broadband operator Clearwire, topping the offer Sprint Nextel raised last week.

On May 22, Dish offered to acquire Clearwire for $4.40 a share in cash, a 29% premium over Sprint's offer of $3.40 a share. Clearwire shares jumped 19% to $4.15 after hours. The offer values Clearwire at about $6.3 billion. "The Clearwire spectrum portfolio has always been a key component to implementing our wireless plans of delivering a superior product and service offering to customers," said Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen in a statement. Clearwire shareholders are to vote on Sprint's takeover offer on May 31, but many of them have opposed the terms. Dish, which said it released its letter to Clearwire publicly due to the short notice, said it intends to commence a tender offer for the outstanding Clearwire shares before Friday's meeting. Dish said its offer is for all stockholders, but it's also willing to buy out only minority stockholders so long as it can acquire at least 25% of Clearwire's voting stock.