Craig McCaw made a fortune selling McCaw Cellular to AT&T, and in 2003 he started over with Clearwire. The Kirkland, Washington company sold wireless broadband: a small modem that pulled fast internet from the air, with no cable or phone line. In 2007 the iPhone was months away, and most people still got online through a wire at home. Clearwire filed to go public with McCaw holding 34 percent of the equity and 49 percent of the votes.

Internet Without the Wire

Clearwire's idea was simple to say and costly to build. It gathered radio spectrum and put up towers, city by city, so customers could plug in a modem and get broadband with no installer. It aimed at towns and households where cable and DSL were weak or overpriced. The plan needed billions in spectrum and network spending before it could pay off. McCaw had done this before with cellular phones, and investors were willing to bet he could do it again.

Six Hundred Million, Then Sprint

Clearwire sold 24 million shares at $25 each in March 2007, raising $600 million, and began trading on Nasdaq as CLWR. In 2008 it merged with Sprint's WiMAX business, Xohm, to form a new Clearwire with Sprint as the largest owner. The network became the backbone of Sprint's early 4G service. In July 2013, Sprint bought the shares it did not already own and became the sole owner of Clearwire.

Cover: The Beach at Sainte-Adresse, Claude Monet. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a wide open sky over a beach (clear air, signals through it).