Shares of Clearwire closed at $3.48 on Wednesday and are now up 22% in early morning trading. Shares in wireless operator Clearwire rose to $4.18 in premarket trading after closing at $3.48 in the regular Nasdaq session. Share volume is at 20.61M, almost double the 30-day average. Clearwire is trading well above its 52-week high of $3.51 and its 52-week low of $0.83. Clearwire’s current market cap is at 2.43B.
Sprint had already raised its offer to $3.40 per share last week and Dish’s latest bid just complicates Sprint’s attempts to purchase Clearwire. Clearwire minority shareholders were unhappy with Sprint’s offer and may push the board to go ahead with Dish’s latest offer. Minority shareholders, Crest Financial Ltd. and Mount Kellett Capital Management LP thought that the offer by Sprint severely undervalued the company and its wireless spectrum.
“It is obviously a better offer,” Clearwire individual investor David Weber said of Dish’s latest proposal. “But I’d be surprised if Sprint doesn’t top that. It doesn’t sound like the bidding war is over.”