The founder of Boost Mobile wants to buy the wireless service back and keep current owner Dish Network Corp. from merging it with a blank-check company controlled by Chairman Charlie Ergen.
(Bloomberg) — The founder of Boost Mobile wants to buy the wireless service back and keep current owner Dish Network Corp. from merging it with a blank-check company controlled by Chairman Charlie Ergen.
Australian Peter Adderton said by phone from Sydney on Thursday that he’s preparing a bid for Boost and has talked to at least one major private equity shop about financing the deal. He’s been trying to get the business back since he first sold it to Nextel in 2003.
Adderton created the Boost brand in 2001 with hope that the prepaid service could dominate the youth wireless market. He says subsequent owners, including Dish, have no idea how to develop that approach.
“I have been laser focused on buying this business for a long time now,” Adderton said. “We’ll be putting together a full offer to take to the Dish board.”
Dish, a satellite TV and wireless company, said earlier this month it’s in preliminary discussions to merge Boost with Ergen’s blank-check company, Conx Corp. Dish acquired the prepaid service in 2020 as part of a government-brokered antitrust deal that let T-Mobile US Inc. merge with Sprint.
Since that sale, Boost has been rolling out 5G services in 120 cities, using airwaves Dish has acquired over the years, so it can stop relying on leased capacity from other carriers’ networks
Adderton plans to make the Dish board members aware of his interest before they approve the SPAC merger plan. The Conx board is awaiting a decision from Dish before they go ahead with a vote on Oct. 31 to extend the Boost discussions.
Dish declined to comment beyond its statement from a week ago.
“We are in regular dialog with interested parties who may assist us in accomplishing our goals, including recently preliminary conversations with Conx,” Dish said in a emailed statement. “There can be no assurance that these preliminary discussions will lead to a transaction nor as to the structure or terms of any such transaction.”
Early Player
Boost was one of the early prepaid mobile-phone brands that tailored itself to a specific niche. In this case, Adderton aimed at a cool demo: city kids, surfers and skateboarders.
In 2003, he sold Boost to Nextel, later to become Sprint Nextel, but within months he was battling the company over how to run the business and was out soon after.
In 2018, he saw a chance to get his hands on Boost again, When T-Mobile US Inc. offered to acquire Sprint. Adderton said he worked with regulators to get Boost divested as a way to preserve competition in the prepaid market.
But in 2020, Dish stepped in to acquire Boost, seeing the purchase as a way to hasten its transition from a satellite TV provider to a 5G wireless network operator, and become a fourth nationwide mobile competitor.
“I believe it went to the wrong company,” Adderton said. “Now it’s time to right that wrong.”
–With assistance from Gillian Tan.
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