SK Telecom May Be In Talks To Buy Sprint Nextel: Report
This story was written by Tricia Duryee.
South Korea's SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) is in talks to buy Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel, the third-largest U.S. carrier, according to CNBC, Reuters reports. The report did not name any sources for the story, but said a deal between the companies would be friendly and that it would be the biggest takeover of a U.S. company by a South Korean company. Sprint Nextel's shares rose almost 14 percent after the report was aired. Sprint declined to comment and SK was unavailable for comment. Most recently, SK Telecom negotiated a merger between Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) and Helio, which was a joint venture between SK Telecom and Earthlink (NSDQ: ELNK). The merger required a lot of participation by Sprint, which both companies used as their network. Sprint agreed to cut the costs associated for the MVNOs.
By Tricia Duryee