Dish Makes a Play For Clearwire That May Stymie Sprint

Dish Network launched a tender for shares of Clearwire, throwing a wrench into a planned purchase of the broadband company by Sprint Nextel.

The last-minute move complicates a three-way merger aimed at turning Sprint into a stronger competitor in the U.S. wireless market. Sprint, which agreed to buy the roughly 50% of Clearwire it doesn't already own, also agreed to be bought for $20 billion by SoftBank of Japan. Clearwire delayed its shareholder vote as a result of the bid until June 13, while Sprint's shareholders will vote on the deal with SoftBank on June 12. While Dish stands little chance of taking over Clearwire given Sprint's big shareholdings, it could in theory win enough of a minority stake to create unwanted headaches for Sprint and SoftBank as they try to knit the companies together.