Sprint CEO Out; Guidance Lowered

Sprint Nextel announced Monday Gary Forsee is stepping down as chairman, president and CEO, effective immediately. Sprint's Board of Directors is already searching for his replacement. CFO Paul Saleh will fill the position in the meantime. A source cited in the Wall Street Journal says former Sprint officials Andrew Sukawaty (CEO of Inmarsat PLC) and Dan Hesse (CEO of Embarq, a Sprint spin-off) are among the top contenders. "The Board's search for selecting its next chief executive will focus on candidates outside the company," said Board member Irvine Hockaday in statement. "Sprint Nextel has the assets, spectrum, customer base and technology to be the leader in wireless mobility services," commented Hockaday. Sprint also announced it expects to report a net loss of 337,000 post-paid subscribers in Q3, and warned operating income before depreciation and amortization, as well as consolidated operating revenue, are expected to be "slightly below the range" of prior guidance of $11B to $11.5B and $41B to $42B, respectively. Sprint is scheduled to report Q3 earnings Nov. 1. Shares of Sprint Nextel lost 2.7% to $18.50 on Monday and fell another 0.4% to $18.42 in extended trading.

Sources: Press release, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal
Commentary: Related: Sprint May Find Replacing Forsee Won't Be Enough to Beat AT&T (Bloomberg) • Sprint Nextel Spells Out WiMax Targets • No Easy Way Out For Sprint In Rising Costs, Customer Churn
Stocks/ETFs to watch: S. Competitors: T, Q, VZ. ETFs: WMH, IYZ, TTH
Earnings call transcript: Sprint Nextel Q2 2007

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Comments

[Carpe Max:]

Any more to the rumors on a possible Sprint - Verizon deal? I know it seems like a stretch, but I think Sprint needs something radical. Plus, they do have shared corporate ties to at least start negotiations www.newsvisual.com/new... . Anyone else heard anything on this rumor, or is it just a rumor?

2007 Oct 09 07:20 PM