Ericsson sells Juniper shares

Juniper Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) dipped Wednesday on news that Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) has sold about 10.4 million shares of its holdings in the company. The companies called the move a first step in their joint venture for the buildout of wireless infrastructure.

Shares in Juniper were down 9 percent, or 14.69 to 141.31,and was the most actively traded stock on the Island ECN ahead of Wednesday's opening bell. Juniper and other networking equipment makers have suffered lately. Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY), which closed up 1.31 to 13.63 Tuesday, did not say when or at what price it had sold the Juniper stock.

Ericsson said the sale was made in order to fund growing business opportunities and to strengthen its focus on product development in infrastructure for third generation mobile Internet and IP backbone networks. Ericsson had purchased these shares prior to Juniper Networks' IPO.

As part of the deal, Juniper Networks will buy back one million shares of its common stock from Ericsson, a move that shows continued confidence in the joint venture, the companies said.