included my sources tell me t-mobile. in fact, would have involved a deal in which t-mobile and sprint got together, something that has been discussed many times in the past. and then softbank came in with a very large equity check buying down significantly what was deutsche telecom's stake in the overall and perhaps buying even more from the sprint shoulder. that deal didn't happen. as we all know, in fact t-mobile has moved on, has a deal to acquire pcs. by the way, while there's been a great deal of speculation that sprint might try an jump that deal, i think we can put that aside for the moment because that's not likely to happen. pcs shares are down. there had been other reports in the japanese media that the overall value of the deal is $12.8 billion. i can't confirm that's the case. what i can confirm is softbank's main focus is on spectrum, becoming even more robust in terms of the spectrum position through sprint, for sprint. in order to do that, would actually also acquire clearwire which has been a partner of sprint in building out wi-max and their various efforts and owns a lot of spectrum. sprint owns a lot of that clearwire spectrum as well. overall price is unclear at this point, how much of a premium it is going to be. i am hearing it would take softbank to somewhere in the mid 70s per ce. i don't know if they'll put in primary equity as well as buying out many of the public shareholders. there are also questions about sprint's debt. let's not forget a very heavily indebted company that has change in control provisions in its debt. unclear what is going to happen there. when you get a shareholder vote. this is a company that's been talking about doubling over the next five years. does softbank have the financial wherewithal to get the job done? i believe they do but it is still a question. i will tell you factually, absolutely they are a week or two away from announcing this deal. that could change but they've been on a track for some time to get this thing done. so it is in process. >> you're way ahead of everything else on this story. why the common? taking a percent. this is about having enough financial stability to be able to integrate and take in the nextel, obviously one of the worst deals ever -- or clearwire. people should be careful buying the common stock. >> i think the common stock is where they are going to take majority control of the. >> y . >> you do. >> who is softbank? >> they are in japan, they are the distributor of the iphone. they're a major player. they have been very clear they want to go against their competitor, kddi. they are clear that they want to compete, that they're out there and they want to be a player. sprint of course is the way that a foreign overseas company can gain access to the u.s. >> softbank said they could do a deal as much as $20 billion. this would not be that much but it does beg the question as to why sprint, given how bullish it's been in its own prospects would be willing to cap those prospects. you would have a public equity. don't know how they do it but they do it through a tender offer. i'm trying to get more details on structure here and frankly on the specifics of price. >> sprint preferred's been trading up markedly in the last few days. someone knew about this deal. it is really extraordinary they're doing this. dan hessy, ceo, has said over and over again he doesn't need the money. but who's going to turn down free money? >> are they going to take out public shareholders completely? to get a 75% stake you have to buy out much of the shareholders but i don't know what comes in addition to that. in the japanese media there's ban $1 been a $12.8 billion number out there but i haven't been able to -- simply because people involved don't want to tell me. not sure whether that includes the purchase of clearwire through sprint or overall. let's hold off on trying to figure what the price is. >> how does clearwire build out its tdd, lt e! network play into this? they don't want to go and offer stock because their stock is so low. >> they're virtually bankrupt. >> they can't offer a bond because they have too much leverage and debt on their balance sheet but they need the money. >> they do. and they're partners. cable companies, intel, had been looking to get out. time warner sold. this gives them time to come in and take full control. it's been explained the motivation for this deal to a large extent was spectrum and it is softbank's belief that we are in the early stages of this revolution in terms of wireless and what they will be able to deliver an how they will be able to compete with the duopoly that currently exists. >> they had to wait until it was clear what t-mobile was going to do, then they move. right? >> well, t-mobile got scared off by government concern that the deal would be stopped. that they would not be. by the way, having softbank in there as well certainly couldn't have helped things either. that complicates things. but t-mobile was a part of these discussions from what i understand when they began this summer. eventually it decided it could not bear the risk of an anti-trust review, worried given what happened with at&t it might happen again, therefore went and bought metro pcs. what's surprising to me is softbank still wanted to do it but apparently they did. these talks have continued. in fact i had been tracking what was, broadly speaking, i knew a potential deal out there. this is it. i can tell you without a doubt this has been going on for quite some time. >> softbank wants to be vodafone to sprint's verizon? conceivably? >> yeah. >> remember, it is -- verizon does not own all of verizon wireless. >> that is true. >> it would seem that sprint's stock is still undervalued on this and clearwe're may be already overvalued. >> again, we don't know price -- are sprint shareholders going to vote -- say it is a -- are they going to vote in favor if there is a shareholder vote? still want to find out in terms of the change in control provisions in terms of the debt because that's important as well. are they in a position to pay back debt that's going to come? >> they can revise the heck out of the company. if softbank comes in they're able to refinance at levels that are no longer high-yield levels. >> by the way, the yen is strong, too. >> there's a lot of questions. >> big, big, big. one of the most asked about questions on "mad money" -- sprint, clearwater, people at home, don't get too crazy about clearwire. maybe get crazy about sprint. >> we'll have more for you as well as we go along, try to get more details. a lot of risk harbingers have been in pcs shaf schls shares e overbid. i did hear definitively, at least as of now, sprint is not interested. >> it's just being hammered as you speak. your reporting hammered. >> both companies have been talking a good game. dan hessy of sprint saying things are great for us. clearwire cfo at a goldman sachs conference recently said if they do go to public markets, if they do get financing, she doesn't expect to be covenants on that financing so they'd be okay even though they have so much debt in order to build out this network which is, by the way, extremely important. this particular technology is extremely important. it is not just lte. it is tdd lte. that's an international standard which china mobile uses also. >> i keep thinking you leverage that balance sheet. they suddenly have a balance sheet to leverage. verizon and at&t are suddenly saying, holy cow, the world has just changed. t-mobile -- remember, at&t had almost destroyed t-mobile's momentum when they did the deal. >> t-mobile is still not growing. it is going the other way which begs the question in terms of the synergies they're talking about achieving with pcs. >> deutsche telecom, billing balance sheet. you have two capitalized players -- you only had two before, now you've got four. >> it's possible. >> what's your gut feel on whether -- sounds extremely complicated. >> it is extraordinarily complex. >> what inning are we in? >> we're far along. my sources are telling me that it could be in fact within the next two weeks, if not sooner, that they could get a deal. it does not appear to have been sidetracked at least as of yet given the leaks. this first was reported i believe in tokyo. i would assume maybe it came out of the soft bank side. >> follow this every step of the way. follow this every step of the way. other an sirius xm, this is what people are in, whether it is right or wrong. it's what they're in. >> if the pcs deal and this goes through, that's probably the end of the consolidation in this industry. there really can't be any more -- >> dan hesse's been talking about consolidation. of course yesterday their executives were at a deutsche bank conference in scottsdale, arizona talking. interesting. >> verizon picking up share because of the iphone. this group is on the move. >> it is. the cfo i think today is speaking at that conference of clearwire. >> of course, melissa, as soon as i can get back to the phone we'll hopefully have more details for you specifically on some of these key questions. let's talk about the overall markets. stocks are looking to bounce back after a disappointsing start to earnings season. dow taking a 128-point hit yesterday. this morning an upbeat call interest citi group. the firm upgrading u.s. equities to overweight citing a combination of strong earnings momentum an easier central bank policy by the end of 2013, jim, they are projecting 16.15, which would be a gain of 12%. >> 24 hours ago, presprint of course, people had had given up on equities. the death of equities story came back again. it was amazing. you had a couple bad days, two of the worst days back-to-back since july 23rd, 24th. everyone wants to short everything. good luck to you. this is a fluid market. turn to alcoa as a way to look at it. alcoa says 2012 slowing down, china going to put on the jets 2013. everybody focuses on 2012. 2013 not in the ballpark. this is an exciting take again. you have deals, people saying don't give up on 2013. vice presidential debate tonight. fiscal cliff. the gulf between the bulls and bears, very big. >> that makes for what? volatility? >> i think so. i think it makes for every single earnings report being a volcker name. >> with that huge gap in between the bulls and bears, look at alcoa for instance, in the after hours popping because it looked like it was a better than expected report. yesterday it was a dismal day for alcoa by the end. a dismal day. >> i thought that people just misinterpreted the comments entirely. china realizes it had understimulated. remember china can turn on the jets if they want to. though of course, that's the greatest short story ever told. once again china is not just dead, it's the china syndrome. boom. and meantime, china springs eternal. >> maybe so. so does a lot of debt that they've got buried in all sorts of places. i'm going to take the other side of that trade, i guess. i sound like those "fast money" guys. >> hey! >> holy cow. meanwhile i have to tell you that santander -- i don't want to hear about a lot of your stuff -- just kidding! santander is not down despite the spanish downgrade and they are a huge suppository of spanish bonds. >> i'm still reeling from the fact -- >> i'm joking! i am hung on your sprint word. i was sending you e-mails say this is it. blow this show up. >> i agree with you whatever you said about santander. i love hearing you say it. >> these are important touchstones for me. >> indeed they are. just quickly on the citi note, looking at some of the top global stocks because it is an interesting list -- aetna, bhp, china mobile, csx, goldman sachs, google, qualcomm. if we can show people where they see the growth around the world for 2013. it wasn't just a u.s. call. it was a global call. in part this call was an underweight of japan. curiously though, they see the topix in japan rising 25% even though they moved to an underweight rating on the stock. so that's curious. we do have an e-mail in to citi to ask about that, how can you be underweight and see a 25% gain over the next year-plus. >> worried about japanese banks, too many bonds, machine tool numbers out last night. >> and automakers. >> if china shuts its market to japan, the political implications of this new cold war between the two, you're not going to be able to sell in to one of the greatest markets that everybody's hoping for. it is political but the chinese in the end just like they did to google -- the chinese have -- they care passionately about political issues. >> yeah. absolutely they do. >> they trump even money. >> as we point the out watching those tensions between china and japan very important. let's move on to jpmorgan cfo douglas bronstein. he may step down in the next quarter. he may take on another post within jpmorgan. he's among executives undergoing scrutiny or at least have been suffering a lot of stress as a result of jpmorgan's trading losses. goldman sachs bracing for more revelations from ex-employee greg smith announcing his resignation from the firm in a "new york times" op-ed. the "financial times," one gold man employee is quoted as saying it feels like a drive-by shooting for people here. steve leisman today exclusive with ceo of goldman sachs, lloyd blankfe blankfein, as well as simpson and bowles and they're not a singing team. they are the duo behind of course what might have been a very sane fiscal plan for the country and they have a lot to say about that. as for braunstein, he was not directly involved in any way in the london whale trading. that did not report in to him. but you can imagine as cfo it is not the easiest of times to have been through, that the job is a very, very difficult one. he had been the preeminent banker for many years at jpmorgan and actually had been very happy in the cfo role. whether or not he's leaving in the next couple of quarters or not, if that is the case -- of course you do need to communicate that to your boss and figure out what you may want to do in the future so we'll see but i think that's become an extraordinary difficult job at any big bank, certainly one that's been under the scrutiny of jpmorgan. >> it feels like a purge. it feels like a purge. anyone who was involved with the whale just tangentially, seems like right down the line -- plus we read the story about the potential criminal prosecution. >> fbi may be making an arrest -- >> it does have that feel to. i'm not sure braunstein given the chain of command -- but at the same time he was the cfo. they have earnings tomorrow. that's what he and the market will be focused on whether it comes to jpmorgan. >> their stock has been red-hot. back down where it was pre-whale. it is kind of like "star trek," "save the whales." >> that is a good one. >> it was. >> all right. coming up next -- real estate services giant has found a home here at the big board once again. the parent of coldwell banker and century 21's ceo will be here. how can facebook succeed? meet the ceo of a company that might be the solution. let's take another look at futures. looks like we are going to end -- or snap this losing streak we've been on. the dow looking at 60 points on the open. much more straight ahead. we don't call this our company, we call this our mission. green toys teaches children that if i have a milk jug and i stick it in the recycling bin it can turn into something new. chase allows us to buy capital equipment to be able to manufacture in the states to the scale we need to be a global company. with a little luck green toys could be the next great american brand. find what's next for your business at chase.com/mainstreet real estate brokerage firm realogy holdings pricing shares at the top of the proposed range. they own coldwell banker and century 21 sold 40 million shares for $27 a piece. we'll talk with the ceo, richard smith. this is the second time around for realogy to go public. >> it was purchased by apollo. it was an lbo that was done at about 12.7 times at the height of the market. it ran into significant trouble but apollo managed to keep it from filing and in fact went into the market, sold big convertible ventures that people are going to be converting -- paulson, york, and a great piece of paper for them. apollo as well. it's funny, if you were part of a fund that invested in realogy in the lbo, you are probably going to take out 10 cents on the dollar on this deal. if you were part of the apollo fund that invested in the debt, you did really well. >> oh. >> like sprint. >> the most important thing is this is a pure play on housing and people are really looking for that. even more so than the builders. >> more than zillow, because this is a play on transactions. >> not the ads, not the subscriptions for access, et cetera. >> when you see an increase -- yesterday there was a terrific piece put out by the national association of realtors about the appraisal problems, how things are not appraising. that's slowing down the process. if you can get appraising, if you can get banks to refinance, to give you a mortgage, then you will see more transactions which means this stock is a huge buy. let's see where it opens obviously. don't want to say, hey, it's good. >> we got a lot more on it. >> that's going to happen just behind us so we're all over this story. finding opportunities after yesterday's sell-off. cramer will show you the way. up ahead, "fast money" report steve leisman has an exclusive with lloyd blankfein, alan simpson and erskine bowles. we are looking at an up day here on the street. much more "squawk on the street" strayed ahead. 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[ male announcer ] the endlessly customizable 2013 smart. time for cramer's "mad dash," ahead of the market open. use a name we haven't talked about this morning -- federal express. >> i looked at what caused the sell-off we've been enduring for some time now. fedex first said global trade going to go down. then few weeks later they actually report their earnings. then they even hammer home that it is worse than they said a few weeks ago. another leg down. transports. suddenly they have a meeting. it is a wand waver and they wave it and bank of america raises numbers fedex. next thing you know the stock is above dramatically where it preannounced. which never sold off that much. >> which was something you pointed to. >> we talked about that $84, $85 it wouldn't penetrate. why? fedex is regarded as the future of transport. big asia, i'm coming back to the fact that china is becoming a battleground. there's the short seller saying china is falling off a cliff. there's the klaus kleinfeld view. i love saying his name. >> $100. you heard it from jim cramer. we got realogy's ceo coming up. stock's going to open for trading moments from now. stay with us. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. 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