Under the terms of the companies' existing alliance, any time there are investments in EarthLink, Sprint has the option of purchasing additional EarthLink stock to bring its investment in back to the level it was before the investment. Sprint's move to buy more EarthLink shares followed Apple Computer Inc.'s recent $200 million investment in EarthLink, which had reduced the percentage of Sprint's ownership in EarthLink. Sprint, the No. 3 US long-distance telephone company, said it purchased about 2.7 million additional shares for $77 million, bringing its overall investment in EarthLink up to 14.6 percent interest.