SoftBank still wants deal with Charter Communications, sources say
SoftBank is willing to re-engage Charter Communications on a deal if the cable giant's management indicates interest, sources told CNBC.
During the summer the Japanese conglomerate had worked on a move to acquire Charter for $540 a share in cash and stock, the sources said. SoftBank would have contributed Sprint shares to the new company at roughly $10 a share, they said.
Charter shares traded around $402 as recently as September but have since fallen. They opened for trading at $338 on Monday.
SoftBank's founder Masayoshi Son had been trying to put together a deal to combine Sprint and T-Mobile but talks were drawn out as the two sides battle over governance and control issues. Those talks officially ended Saturday as both companies said a deal could not be reached.
But Son has also mulled a deal with Charter, which is 27% owned by Liberty Media and its chairman, John Malone. Liberty and the Newhouse family together control almost 50% of Charter's equity. Liberty was interested in the SoftBank offer while Charter's management was not, the sources told CNBC.
Liberty's broadband operation would have rolled into the new company, the sources said.
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