Is that all you got, Masa? Sprint shareholders are happily situated between two eager bidders. Satellite TV provider Dish Network has made them a cash-and-stock offer of $7 per share. This is about 13 per cent higher than the offer from Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, made back in October. Mr Son is committed to the US market and has already sunk capital in Sprint in the form of a $3.1bn convertible bond. He is likely to make another offer. 只能出到这个价了吗，孙正义（Masayoshi Son，软银集团创始人——译者注）？Sprint公司的股东们乐于周旋在两个热情的竞购者之间。卫星电视提供商Dish网络已向他们发出每股7美元的现金加股票收购要约。这比孙正义旗下的软银(SoftBank)去年10月的出价高了约13%。孙正义一心想进入美国市场，并以可转债形式已向Sprint投入31亿美元资金。他可能会发出新的收购要约。

It will have to be meaty. Dish operates in a business with many structural similarities to Sprint, and, unlike SoftBank, does so in the US. It can cut costs by consolidating sales and back-office operations. Dish aims for $1.8bn a year in cuts. This is not unrealistic: the two companies have $29bn in sales and overhead costs between them. Sprint shareholders will own a third of the new company and therefore, in theory, a third of the savings’ $11bn present value. All they would get from SoftBank is the thin gruel of increased purchasing power and “expertise”. Yes, Dish will have to pay a $600m break-up fee to SoftBank and the deal will leave it leveraged to at least four times its operating cash flow. But its offer remains superior. 这份要约必须足够诱人。Dish的业务在结构上和Sprint有许多相似之处，而且，与SoftBank不同的是，其业务是在美国市场。它可以通过整合销售和后台业务来降低成本。Dish的目标是每年削减18亿美元。这并非不现实：两家公司的销售和营业成本共计290亿美元。Sprint的股东将拥有新公司三分之一的股份，因而从理论上说，他们也拥有现值110亿美元的成本节省的三分之一。他们能从SoftBank得到的，不过是一点绵弱的新增购买力和“专业知识”。没错，Dish将不得不向SoftBank支付6亿美元的分手费，而且这笔交易将使其债务达到营业现金流的至少四倍。但它的要约仍是更好的。

Dish also promised $24bn in future revenue growth opportunities, based on an integrated offering of wireless data and satellite television. Sprint holders should ignore these giddy figures. Bundling services does improve customer retention. But it is not possible to predict what the mobile video market will look like in a few years’ time (other than to say it will be hideously competitive). Dish还有望带来240亿美元的未来营收增长机遇，基于提供捆绑的无线数据和卫星电视服务。Sprint的股东应忽略这些令人眼花缭乱的数字。捆绑式服务确实能提高客户保留率。但无法预测几年后的移动视频市场究竟会怎样（除了说竞争肯定激烈得可怕之外）。

To win, Mr Son will have to make an offer that compensates Sprint shareholders for the loss of the synergies they would have harvested as owners of the new Dish. It would be rational for him to walk away instead. Sprint shareholders will hope his ego prevails. 要想竞购成功，孙正义必须开出一个价，能够补偿Sprint的股东因无法成为新Dish公司股东而损失的聚合效益。他转身离开将更加理智些。但Sprint的股东将希望他的好胜心占上风。