Clearwire on Thursday switched sides again, recommending that shareholders accept a newly revised $5-a-share takeover bid by Sprint Nextel instead of a rival offer from Dish Network.
Sprint’s new bid values Clearwire at about $14 billion, and is 47 percent higher than its last offer.
“The Clearwire board and special committee have determined that the $5.00 per share transaction with Sprint represents the best path forward for the company and is in the best interest of our unaffiliated stockholders,†Erik Prusch, Clearwire’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Thursday’s announcement, coming about a week after Clearwire endorsed Dish’s $4.40-a-share offer, is the latest turn in a bidding war over a struggling wireless network operator that nonetheless has become a key part of its suitors’ visions for the future.
Sprint is hoping to buy the other 50 percent that it does not already own to use its affiliate’s wireless spectrum to expand its data network. And Dish is hoping to use Clearwire to move beyond its satellite TV offerings into the bigger world of cellular phone service.
Shares of Clearwire were up 1.7 percent by midafternoon on Thursday, at $3.78 each.
