No one has more riding on Sprint Corp.'s $26.5 billion sale to T-Mobile US Inc. than SoftBank Group and its founder, Masayoshi Son.
Sprint has been going broke for more than a decade, and the wireless carrier's executives have told regulators the company faces "serious challenges" if the takeover by T-Mobile is blocked. With a $19 billion stake in Sprint, SoftBank will bear the brunt of the fallout if the deal collapses.
"It would be a test of SoftBank's willingness to save Sprint," said Amy Yong, a Macquarie analyst. "The ownership stake is so high they'd probably look to save it, but plan B isn't obvious or very attractive."