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http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...0CD%7D&siteid=
Clearwire gets $900 million, withdraws IPO
Funding round ranks as richest ever in the U.S.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Clearwire Corp., a wireless Internet service firm
founded by telecommunications entrepreneur Craig McCaw, said it's scrapping
its $400 million initial public offering to receive a $900 million financing
round led by Intel Capital.
The payment to Clearwire ranks as the richest payment in U.S. history, said
Jessica Canning, senior research manager at VentureOne.
The round, which includes a $600 million cash payment by Intel .MOT20.10,
+0.16, +0.8%) , eclipses an $889 million payment for Western Integrated
Networks back in 1999, she said.
Canning said the round will "lend credit" to WiMax technology as the sector
moves to take wireless Internet access to the next level of providing
broadband services over wider areas than traditional WiFi systems.
Intel spokesman Kent Cook said the chip giant won't hold a majority stake in
Clearwire after the transaction. He declined to say if Intel will hold seats
on the board of Clearwire.
Intel said the stake in the WiMax services firm represents the largest
investment ever made by Intel Capital, which was founded in 1991.
Motorola acquired Clearwire's subsidiary, NextNet Wireless, for an
undisclosed sum, as part of the deal.
The Kirkland, Wash. broadband service provider filed to go public on May 11.
"The registrant has determined not to proceed with the registration and sale
of its Class A common stock at this time," the company said in a letter to
regulators.
McCaw, who sold his cellular company to AT&T in 1994, said in a statement
that working with Intel and Motorola will advance the company's vision for
fixed, portable and mobile wireless broadband services.
"Wi-Fi has become an essential part of people's lives," Sean Maloney Intel
executive vice president and general manager, Mobility Group, said in a
statement. "WiMax is next. It is rapidly moving from a technology initiative
to real deployments...This investment in Clearwire will lay the foundation
for high-speed mobile broadband services across North America."
Clearwire first teamed up with Intel nearly two years ago to develop
products supporting WiMax technology.
Like Wi-Fi, WiMax offers two-way broadband Internet access, with the added
capability of broadcasting broadband service at a radius of several miles.
Next year, Intel plans to feature WiMax capabilities in some versions of its
Centrino package of chips aimed at improving battery life in notebook
computers and to make it easier for them to connect to wireless networks.
McCaw, 56, chairman and CEO of the company since its founding in 2003,
founded McCaw Cellular Communications, which was eventually bought by AT&T
and turned into AT&T Wireless. He's also an investor in Nextel
Communications and heads an investment firm called Eagle River.
In 2005, Clearwire rang up a loss of nearly $140 million, more than four
times the loss of $33 million in 2004. Revenue climbed to $33 million from
$15 million in the year-ago period, according to its IPO prospectus.
As of March 31, the company offered services in 27 markets in the United
States covering more than 200 municipalities with an estimated 4.8 million
people.
It also offers wireless broadband services in Brussels, Belgium and Dublin,
Ireland, areas that together cover an estimated 1 million people.
According to technology consulting firm IDC, the U.S. broadband market is
expected to grow at a 18.4% compound annual growth rate between 2004 and
2009, Clearwire said in its IPO prospectus. Broadband penetration is
expected to exceed 52% of U.S. households by 2009.
"As purchases of laptops and other portable data devices continue to
accelerate, we believe consumers increasingly will look for more efficient
and effective ways to access the Internet on these devices," Clearwire said.
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