Sprint / Nextel merger may close Wednesday

Dec 12 2004 - 11:16 PM ET | Nextel, Rumor, Sprint Nextel
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Sprint / Nextel merger may close as soon as Wednesday. The $35 billion deal is moving at lightspeed--word of the deal only broke on December 9th. This is in stark contrast to the months long auction ordeal AT&T Wireless went through before Cingular opted to purchase the company for $41 billion. bq. The future of the telecom business is increasingly a wireless one. And should a deal between Sprint and Nextel be clinched, the cellphone landscape is likely to be locked in position for years, with three large players dominating the market. Here are some notes about the agreement: * Sprint would pay the equivalent of 1.3 shares of its stock, with a small portion of that coming in cash, for each Nextel share * Sprint CEO Gary Forsee will continue to serve as CEO while Nextel CEO Timothy Donahue will serve as executive chairman of the new company. * Sprint shareholders will end up with 51% of the combined company More Sprint / Nextel merger coverage * Sprint and Nextel enter merger talks * Sprint / Nextel reach tentative deal