Nov 19, 2019 - Technology

Boost Mobile founder wants to buy back company from Sprint

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

A Sprint on store on 14th Street in Manhattan. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton said he wants to buy back the company, which Sprint is selling per an agreement to secure regulatory approval of its merger with T-Mobile US.

Why it matters: Adderton says he's willing to pay up to $2 billion for Boost, a rich premium to the $1.4 billion that Sprint agreed to sell its entire prepaid wireless unit for to Dish Network. No word yet on how he'd finance such a bid.

Bonus: After selling Boost in 2004, Adderton founded an MVNO called Amp'd Mobile, which raised over $370 million before going under. Not an extraordinary amount of funding by today's standards but, at the time, it led several VC news cycles.

The bottom line: "Adderton has been outspoken that the [Sprint/T-Mobile] combination would harm lower-income consumers who depend on prepaid phones... [and] has also questioned Dish’s commitment to serving Boost customers, as the satellite company has focused its priorities on building a next generation 5G wireless network." — Sheila Dang, Reuters

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