The current bidding for the C block has NOT stalled at $4.71 billion as the story states. A new bidder upped the bid to $4.74 billion a few days ago. This was made possible because there are 2 ways of bidding for the C block: either outright for the whole block, where the bidding reached $4.71 billion, or for 8 pieces of the block individually. If the cumulative price for the bidding of the 8 pieces exceeds the bid for the whole block, then that bid trumps the whole block bid. The cumulative bid for the 8 pieces now stands at $4.74 billion, which means that the C block is still under contention. Today's latest story from the NYT gives more info on the auction.