Clearwire gets more funding from Sprint, other investors: Meanwhile, Sprint announces more layoffs

Clearwire Corp. confirmed it would gain another $1.564 billion in funding from its existing partners to help it continue to build its nationwide WiMAX network. Sprint Nextel Corp., which owns 51% of Clearwire and is struggling with its 3G subscriber base, will contribute the most money, $1.176 billion. In a separate announcement, Sprint said it plans to lay off between 2,000 and 2,500 employees to save about $350 million a year.
Other contributors are Comcast Corp., which said it will contribute $196 million; Time Warner Cable Inc., putting up $103 million; Intel Corp., offering $50 million; Eagle River Holdings L.L.C., contributing $20 million; and Bright House Networks L.L.C., which is giving $19 million. Clearwire said it will receive about $1 billion in the next few days, with another $440 million coming at closing of the deal, expected to happen by the end of the year. The remaining funds will be contributed in the first quarter of 2010.
Sprint and the other investors, including Google Inc., have already collectively pledged $3.5 billion to Clearwire to build out its network. A Google spokesman told Reuters that while the Internet search giant still supports Clearwire, it will not offer any more financing to the company.
Clearwire is announcing its third-quarter results later today, which should give Wall Street a better idea of how quickly the company is gaining subscribers as it rolls out WiMAX service across the country. The carrier plans to be in 25 markets by the end of the year.
As part of the financing package, Clearwire plans to sell $1.45 billion of debt to pay off a $1.4 billion credit facility, enabling the carrier to access another $240 million of debt.