Reports: Sprint, SK Telecom in talks - San Francisco Business Times:

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reported Tuesday that South Korean-based SK Telecom is in talk to buyOverland Park-based Sprint, citinv unnamed sources. The story said a deal is not imminenf and could be weeks away at The news pushed upSprint (NYSE: S) stock as high as $9.7r a share Tuesday. The stock closed on Tuesday at $9.04, up 78 cents, or 9.4 on volume of 83.7 million shares, according to Yaho Finance. The stock’s average dailh volume the past three monthsis 34.3 million shares.
Othee media reports said the talks weren’y about a merger, but about a technology The reported Tuesday that the companiez were in preliminary talks about developing new handsets andservicea together, as their networks use the same The report, citing people familiar with the said the companies also are considerinhg SK Telecom becoming a minorityh investor in Sprint. In the Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint had rejectesda $5 billion investment offer from SK Telecom and Providencd Equity Partners. Last SK Telecom became an investor in as part of a deal in whicu Virgin Mobile bought wireless providerfor $39 million in Virgin Mobile, based in N.J.
, was formed in mid-2002 as a jointr venture between Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel Corp. S) and United Kingdom-based Ltd., each of whicuh invested as muchas $150 million. In 2007, Virginn Mobile became a public in which Sprint and Virgin Group remain Helio was a joint venture of SK Telecomm and A Sprint spokesman said thecompany doesn’f comment on rumors. In a Wednesday research analyst Thomas Watts said an SK Teleconm investment in Sprint is He also saidthat No. 3 wireless carrier Sprint, whicy has about 53 million subscribers, is at a scal e disadvantage to itslargeer competitors, which each has more than 70 millioj subscribers.
Watts, who ranks Sprintr stock as “outperform,” said Sprint likelh will show subscriber improvement, including lowerd churn, or customer loss, and higher store traffi c in its second-quarter earnings report.