Clearwire’s stock surges on acquisition report

Clearwire Corp.’s stock jumped nearly 12% in early afternoon trading based on speculation that the company is on the verge of announcing it will be acquired.
According to a research note by Raymond James & Associates analyst Ric Prentiss, Clearwire’s stock has been boosted by rumors that an announcement may come as soon as this weekend, with a price tag of about $19 per share. The rumored buyers include Intel Corp.-a major backer of WiMAX technology-American Tower and a “private third party” are being discussed as possible buyers for Clearwire, with Intel apparently coming out as the most likely candidate.
Prentiss added in the note that a purchase by Intel makes sense, but that American Tower as a potential buyer does not, because it would put the company in a position of competing with its customers and “would not follow their business strategy or past history for [American Tower] to take an ownership stake in [an] operator.”
Clearwire had no comment on the report.
Clearwire went public earlier this year, and was in talks with Sprint Nextel Corp. for a partnership that would have focused on a nationwide deployment of a WiMAX network. However, the Sprint Nextel and Clearwire collaboration broke down in early November.