Japan-based SoftBank Corp. recently acquired a 78% stake in U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. in a transaction valued at $21.6 billion. Sprint also recently acquired the remaining 49% stake in wireless service provider Clearwire Corp. that it did not already own. We are raising our long-term corporate credit rating on Sprint to 'BB-' from 'B+' and removing the rating from CreditWatch. The stable outlook reflects our view that operating trends should improve, though the company will find it difficult to meaningfully reduce leverage in the near term given our expectation for substantial free operating cash flow deficits. (Watch the related CreditMatters TV segment titled, "Acquisitions Prompt A Standard&Poor?s Rating Action On Sprint," dated July 12, 2013.) On
