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Sprint's Desperate Ways

An outright merger or acquisition involving the financially challenged wireless carrier would be better for shareholders.
Photographer: Tony Avelar/Bloomberg
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Sprint Corp. is proving more desperate than we thought.

Rather than continue down the road to a logical -- and until now, inevitable -- strategic merger with T-Mobile US Inc., the struggling wireless carrier has put that plan on hold in favor of what looks like a financial salve. It may say more about Sprint's weakness than investors buoyed by Tuesday's share-price rally would like to admit.