Friday, February 24, 2012

Google Looks To Unload Clearwire Shares

Internet giant Google is looking to unload its entire stake in Bellevue-based Clearwire, taking a $453M loss on its investment in the 4G wireless network provider. In a letter to Comcast, released by Google this week, Google said it intends to sell up to 29,411,765 shares of its Class A stock, at $1.60 per share in cash. Google had acquired the stake in Clearwire in 2008. The shares represent around 6.5 percent of Clearwire. The move comes as Clearwire has struggled, as LTE has taken firm lead over its choice of WiMax as a next generation, 4G network protocol. Clearwire is now in recovery mode, looking to transition its network to LTE, and hang on to Sprint--its only customer--through the transition.