Sprint Shareholders Approve $21.6 Billion Deal With SoftBank

Enlarge image

Shareholders in Sprint Nextel Corp. have approved a $21.6 billion sale of 78 percent of the company to Tokyo-based SoftBank Corp.

The vote in Overland Park, Kan. Tuesday comes at the end of months of negotiations that originally included a $25.5 billion offer to buy all of Sprint from Dish Network. Dish Network has since retreated from that offer, but may still pursue shares of Sprint network provider, Clearwire.

SoftBank has already given Sprint $3.1 billion and have said they will give the company an additional $1.9 billion when the deal closes. The deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is expected to remain in charge, but he will likely answer to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

The Kansas City Business Journal has a timeline of the events.