IP Democracy: It's True -- Forsee is Out at Sprint-Nextel

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Sprint-Nextel was on the hunt for a new CEO and USA Today's Leslie Cauley reported this morning that an imminent announcement would confirm that Sprint's ambitious CEO Gary Forsee would be stepping down. It's all true.

Sprint-Nextel announced this afternoon that Forsee is stepping down as the company's chairman, president and chief executive officer effective immediately. Forsee's duties will be temporarily taken over by board member James Hance, who is now non-executive Chairman of the Board, and Paul Saleh, formerly CFO but now interim CEO.

Despite Forsee's efforts to reposition the old Sprint into a high-growth modern-era mobile carrier through the acquisition of Nextel, the company is a distant third in the U.S. mobile market. Worse, it is losing customers and slipping financially.

Sprint also announced today it expects to report a loss of 337,000 customers for Q3 07 (compared to a paltry gain of 373,000 customers for Q2 07), along with lower-than-expected revenue and cash flow performance for the full year. Sprint had projected revenue of $41 to $42 billion, and cash flow, or adjusted OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization) of $11.0 to $11.5 billion.

Whomever replaces Forsee, one thing's for sure: the company controversial, costly and unproven WiMax initiative, a pet project of Forsee, is surely about to be, if not shelved, then radically downgraded.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on October 8, 2007 4:57 PM to IP Democracy