It can't be a good thing when a CEO resigns without even the pretense of "spending more time with his family." Sprint-Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) CEO Gary Forsee has been the focus of investor and analyst anger for some time now; on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported Sprint management was searching for his replacement and recently, he was targeted by activist investor Ralph Whitworth. In September, Eric Buscemi wondered if his time had run out thanks to his Failure to Turnaround. A whole year following the company's purchase of Nextel, integration was still questionable and EBITDA was forecasted to be billions lower than expected.
According to a statement from Sprint, CFO Paul Saleh will serve as interim CEO while the board finds (finishes finding?) a new CEO. Interestingly, Sprint says it is targeting candidates outside the company. And in what seems to be a "might as well dish all our dirt at once" move, Sprint said it was forecasting a third-quarter net loss of 337,000 post-paid subscribers (the ones who have annual contracts and pay their bills each month).
The news was already cheering up investors; after a nasty drop of 51 cents, or 2.68%, to $18.50 on the day, the stock was up in after-hours trading to $19.05; erasing all the day's losses and then some. The company's stock is near a two-year low.
Sprint CEO Gary Forsee resigns: Under pressure
Posted Oct 8th 2007 6:11PM by Sarah Gilbert
Filed under: Bad news, Management, Sprint Nextel Corp (S)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-08-2007 @ 7:05PM
Maxcarp said...
Is there anymore to the rumor circulating last week of a possible deal between Sprint and Verizon? I know it sounds pretty far-fetched, given that Sprint is a fairly large entity and it still seems that they haven't fixed all the bugs from the Nextel deal, but to be honest I just don't feel that Sprint is going anywhere at the moment. I found some info on it that suggests they at least have a starting point for negotiations http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/10/sprint-and-veri.html . Has anyone else heard anything? Or was it just one of those rumors that disappears after a day?
10-08-2007 @ 7:35PM
Paul Sparcello said...
Why Sprint is loosing 337,000 customers:
A) Phone selection
B) Bogus upgrade scam (based on RETAIL price)
C) Additional fees to pay bills in store
10-08-2007 @ 7:40PM
Sarah Gilbert said...
Maxcarp, I don't think the rumors have been quashed; Eric Buscemi mentioned that in his post last week. A Verizon/Sprint deal is still very much a possibility.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/04/sprints-gary-forsee-seeing-more-pressure/
10-09-2007 @ 9:03PM
Eye4Sprint said...
Sprint is ill internally. Their business practices are deeply concerning. Small businesses working with Sprint gets hurt severely. Not good. The company has a serious cancer.