SoftBank CEO bashes Dish’s Sprint offer, says his is superior

April 30th, 2013

Peter Nolan

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2011.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET)

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son didn’t mince words when discussion’s Dish Network’s unsolicited offer to buy Sprint Nextel from under the Japanese carrier.

“To me, it’s ridiculous,” he said on Tuesday of Dish’s vision of merging its satellite TV service with Sprint’s wireless service.

Son spent more than 90 minutes during an investor presentation — primarily conducted in English — laying out the argument for why his offer remains superior. As such, he doesn’t believe SoftBank needs to raise its offer for Sprint.

Dish earlier this month submitted a bid of $25.5 billion to buy Sprint, a deal that it said breaks down to $7 a share, superior to the $6.22 a share that SoftBank was offering. But Son said he believes Dish’s deal misses out on several details that make it less attractive than it first seems.

“The number is wrong,” he said. “It is incomplete and illusory.”

When including other factors, Son calculated the value of his offer at $7.65 vs. a $6.31 offer from Dish.

CNET contacted Dish for comment, and we’ll update the story when the company responds.

Sprint said yesterday that it had gotten approval from SoftBank to further explore Dish’s offer.

Dish’s deal is inferior because of several factors, Son argued. The combined company under Dish would be saddled with much more debt, would take more than a year to close (vs. Sprint’s July 1 closing target for SoftBank), combine non-industry-standard spectrum from Dish, and have savings based on “unrealistic” expectations. In addition, Dish lacks the experience and industry relationships that SoftBank has developed over the year, Son said.

“Dish has no friends to count on,” referring to a history of litigation that has made enemies of many service providers and technology companies.

Son wasn’t afraid to go after Dish during the presentation, which was largely held to convince Sprint shareholders that the SoftBank deal was the way to go.

“I’m positive after they understand from 360 degrees of thorough study, (the Sprint shareholders) will make the right choice,” he said.

In addition to ridiculous, Son criticized the Dish offer as complicated, and said Dish founder Charlie Ergen lacked the experience to lead a wireless company. He noted that Ergen has never acquired such a large company, instead preferring to scoop up businesses out of bankruptcy. He added that Sprint shareholders would “buy a headache” with Dish and its incompatible spectrum if if they were to approve the deal.

Dish has suggested that it would have an easier time receiving U.S. regulatory approvals to buy Sprint because it was a domestic company. But Son said that indications from U.S. officials are that the process “is going very smooth and accordingly.”

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said the companies were on track to close the deal by July 1.

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