Sprint reportedly ends acquisition talks with Dish once and for all

It looks like Dish’s quest to buy Sprint has gone for naught. According to Bloomberg, the third largest US carrier has cut off talks with the satellite company. Among other issues, both sides failed to agree on a “breakup fee” that would be awarded to Sprint if the deal ultimately fell apart. The carrier allegedly wanted $3 billion, but Dish was only willing to put up $1B.

Sprint had originally formed a dedicated committee to analyze Dish’s proposed buyout — an offer that directly threatened SoftBank’s planned acquisition of the wireless provider. But in recent weeks, momentum clearly shifted to SoftBank’s side; the US Justice Department approved its takeover bid, and SoftBank has since upped its offer by $4.5 billion in hopes of getting the final thumbs up from Sprint’s shareholders. A vote is scheduled for June 25th, and both companies hope to close the deal sometime in July. Unfortunately for Dish, raising national security concerns weren’t enough to derail the SoftBank deal. Of course, that leaves T-Mobile US open for the taking now that SoftBank won’t need to pursue its backup plan.