New Sprint boss shakes up management

The newly installed head honcho at US carrier Sprint Nextel appears keen to put his own stamp on the company, with three executives set to leave on Friday.

Dan Hesse, the former head of Sprint’s fixed line spin off, Embarq, took over the reins as president and CEO of Sprint at the start of this year, replacing Gary Forsee, who stepped down in October.

Now chief financial officer Paul Saleh, who had been acting as CEO since Forsee’s departure, will leave the company, accompanied by chief marketing officer, Tim Kelly, and Mark Angelino, president of sales and distribution.

The management shake up comes in the wake of shareholder discord as Sprint fails to keep up with rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T in terms of subscriber growth, following the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel.

Earlier this month, Sprint said it is to cut 4,000 jobs as financial pressure and subscribers losses continued through the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company is also planning to close more than 4,000 third party distribution points and to close approximately 125, or 8 per cent, of its company owned retail spots.

Sprint reported a net gain of 500,000 subscribers through wholesale channels, growth of 256,000 Boost Unlimited users and net additions of 20,000 subscribers within affiliate channels. But these gains were decimated by net losses of 683,000 postpaid subscribers and 202,000 prepaid users.

The company’s WiMAX initiative, Xohm, which is set to go commercial in April, is also the cause of some shareholder concern.

William Arendt, currently senior vice president and controller of Sprint, will serve as acting CFO, while John Garcia, currently senior vice president for product development and management, will serve as acting marketing officer. Paget Alves, Sprint’s regional president for sales and distribution, will serve as acting president for sales and all will report directly to Hesse.