When the new Clearwire company was created in 2008, several companies combined to invest over $3 billion in the venture. Google, Intel, Time Warner, Comcast, and Sprint all put their financial security at stake to some degree by joining the WiMAX enterprise, and thus far they have yet to see any return on the investment. Quite the contrary - Clearwire's presence in the 4G market has been underwhelming at best thus far, with many consumers and industry insiders wondering if they're missing a big opportunity to take hold of the market before LTE becomes available.
While consumers eagerly await for Clearwire to do something with their assets, its stock continues to plummet. The shares have fallen over 40% since the company launched three months ago, dropping another 8% on Monday to close at a meager $2.96. This is in sharp comparison to the $20 per share price Clearwire had projected to their investors last November. Because the price has stayed so low for so long now, a clause has been triggered that divested even more shares of the company to Google and Time Warner - Google received an additional 4.4 million shares this week to bring its total stake to over 29 million shares while Time Warner Cable has gained an additional 4.8 million Clearwire shares to bring their total to about 32 million shares.
So what does Clearwire have to say about this latest development? Not much - yet. Spokeswoman Susan Johnston confirmed that the clause had indeed been triggered and that Clearwire's investors had received increased shares, but would not reveal any further details. Instead, she said that the increased ownership percentages would not be disclosed until April, when Clearwire is scheduled to file a proxy statement. Perhaps they are hoping that by then they will have some more positive news to divulge in tandem with the slumping stock talk?
