Jesse Jackson seeks to talk with Sprint, Nextel

Jesse Jackson has requested meetings with chief executives of Sprint Corp. and Nextel to discuss the companies' proposed $35 billion merger. Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said Wednesday that he wanted to ask the executives -- Gary Forsee of Sprint and Timothy Donahue of Nextel -- how the merger will affect competition and consumers and whether minorities and women will benefit from the deal. "We want to engage with both companies to determine what their commitment is," Jackson said in a telephone interview. A Sprint spokeswoman said company officials would "engage in dialogue with a variety of organizations and constituents," as is typical in a merger process. But she declined to say whether Forsee would meet with Jackson. "Diversity and inclusion are an integral part of the way Sprint does business today," said Jennifer Bosshardt, the spokeswoman.  Sprint and Nextel last week said they planned to merge operations to create the country's third-largest wireless phone company. If the deal is approved, the merged company would spin off Sprint's local phone business. Jackson said he has several questions to ask Forsee and Donahue. Among them are whether the new company's board and executive team will include minorities and women; whether minority-owned companies will be given a chance to manage assets from pension funds; and, if assets spin off the merged company, whether the company will "take creative and proactive steps" to enable minority-owned companies to acquire the assets.  [more]