Nextel

Running to keep up with an always-changing telecom race, Sprint Nextel combines the best of two powerhouse wireless companies. The combination of #3 US wireless carrier Sprint with #5 Nextel Communications has created a wireless giant that aspires to take on the wireless units of bounding former Baby Bells Verizon (and Verizon Wireless) and AT&T Inc. (formerly SBC Communications) (and Cingular Wireless). Sprint Nextel operates a nationwide digital wireless network with about 52 million subscribers. The #1 non-Bell local phone company in the US, Sprint Nextel has spun off its local wireline operations, known as Embarq, to focus on the future of wireless -- wireless broadband.

Sprint Nextel, created in 2005 in a cash and stock deal valued at $35 billion, puts the wireless carrier behind only Cingular and Verizon Wireless in number of subscribers. Verizon, partner in Verizon Wireless with the Vodafone Group, was reportedly considering a rival bid for Sprint before the Sprint-Nextel agreement was announced.

One consequence of the merger has been battles Sprint Nextel has fought with its Sprint affiliates, primarily Nextel Partners, which exercised a right to force Sprint to buy out the affiliate then fought for months over the purchase price. The war ended in late 2005 when Sprint Nextel agreed to purchase Nextel Partners. The stock deal, valued at about $6.5 billion, was completed in mid-2006. Sprint Nextel also has battled Lake Charles, Louisiana-based affiliate US Unwired, a company that had tried to block the Sprint-Nextel merger, and then agreed to be acquired in a stock deal valued at $1.3 billion. The deal turns 500,000 subscribers of the affiliate to direct subscribers of Sprint and expands the Sprint network into 48 additional markets in nine states. In related deals Sprint Nextel bought affiliate Alamosa Holdings in a deal valued at $3.4 billion and has acquired UbiquiTel for $1.3 billion, including the assumption of about $300 million of debt.

On the heels of the merge of Sprint and Nextel, the company announced it would spend as much as $3 billion over two years to build a wireless network based on WiMAX broadband technology. The emerging WiMAX technology, long championed by Intel, is seen as something of a gamble for the company, which is betting on increasing demand for consumer wireless Internet services. Sprint Nextel is partnering with Intel, along with equipment and technology suppliers Motorola and Samsung Electronics in the expansion project that is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

Sprint Nextel has formed a joint venture -- with cable titans including Advance/Newhouse Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner -- that in late 2006 will test a program to provide cable TV, home phone, and wireless phone services in a single package. The company holds a 49% stake in Virgin Mobile USA, a joint venture with Virgin Mobile Telecoms, the UK-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). It also holds a small stake in US ISP EarthLink.

Expect future investment opportunities to be made through Sprint Ventures, a venture capital unit formed in 2006 that expects to complete from three to five deals a year.

Aeropostale

Aéropostale wants to fly high in the teen fashion world. The company operates about 670 mostly mall-based stores in some 47 states, offering casual clothing for young men and women. Aéropostale stocks the usual teen outerwear (jeans, T-shirts, accessories), mostly under the Aéropostale and Aéro names. It designs and sources its own merchandise so that it can quickly respond to trends. The Aéropostale name originated from a 1920s airmail firm, Compagnie Generale Aéropostale. The brand was created by R.H. Macy & Co. in the 1980s and later made into a specialty store concept. Macy's parent company, Federated Department Stores, sold Aéropostale to its management and Bear Stearns Merchant Banking in 1998.

The fast-growing company more than doubled its store count between 2002 and 2004. Last year the company added nearly 100 new Aéropostale stores and has plans to add as many as 75 Aéropostale stores and five Jimmy 'Z Surf Co. stores in 2006. After acquiring the rights to the Jimmy 'Z brand in 2004, the company opened eight of the California lifestyle-oriented brand Jimmy 'Z Surf Co. stores last year. Currently there are 14 Jimmy 'Z stores in nearly a dozen states.

In May 2005 the company launched aeropostale.com, its e-commerce site.

The retailer also brings its rags right to campus with organized sales events.