Softbank is worried enough about the counter bid made by Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) for Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) that its founder and chief will visit the United States. It is a trip he did not expect he would ever have to make. Sprint’s board has accepted his bid, but many investors believe the Dish Network offer gives investors a better return. Softbank’s Masayoshi Son has come to beg.
Reuters says of the Softbank meeting with Sprint shareholders:
Two big Sprint shareholders, Paulson & Co and Omega Advisors, have publicly said the Dish offer looks better than SoftBank’s.
Son, speaking to reporters at an event unveiling SoftBank’s latest smartphones and mobile gadgets, dismissed suggestions from Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen last week that the Dish deal would be good for U.S. jobs, saying Americans would continue to be employed under a Softbank deal.
“The workers who are climbing Sprint’s base stations are Americans and we will not be sending anyone from Japan to do that at all,” said Son, adding that Sprint’s towers would continue to be managed by its own employees as well as workers from telecom equipment vendors Samsung Electronics Co Ltd , Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent.
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