Gary Forsee out as Sprint's CEO
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 8th 2007 1:27PM
posted Oct 8th 2007 1:27PM
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint is currently looking for Gary Forsee's successor. Apparently, the firm's board began "quietly looking for a new leader in August," suggesting that key members had lost faith in current management. A new chief executive could be named by early December, and it's looking like the replacement will indeed be hired from outside of the company. Notably, the future of Sprint's substantial investment in WiMAX remains foggy, as certain analysts have questioned the sensibility of such a large commitment to a technology "that is so far unproven commercially." Regardless, it looks like a change in strategy will be the number one priority moving forward. [Warning: read link required subscription]UPDATE: Gary Forsee has indeed stepped down. The firm's CFO, Paul Saleh, was named acting CEO, while James Hance, Jr. will serve as acting chairman.
[Via BloggingStocks, thanks Matt H. for the update]
It was about time they got rid of him. Hopefully the new CEO will help Sprint's "sinking ship".
I wonder just how much of a golden parachute he is getting for running Sprint into the ground.
Fingers crossed that he takes his call center staff with him.
« Certain analysts have questioned the sensibility of such a large commitment to a technology "that is so far unproven commercially." »
I hate bean counters. I really do.
i agree bunch of lawyers(i.e. couldn't get into MBA programs)and MBAers(i.e. couldn't get into medical school)run to much of our country
just because you aren't aware of WIMAX's severe limitations doesn't make questioning its implementation a 'beancounter' decision.
I think WiMAX will take off. To bad the CEO has to take off sooner.
Wow, I totally read that as "Gary Busey out as Sprint's CEO."
Quoted for Truth.
What's a WiMAX? Is that so I can play nintendo wii on my sprint pcs?
Wimax represents Sprint's opportunity to break out of the pack. Otherwise it will have to be content stealing customers from its carrier competitors.
good, cause under him, Sprint phones suck. Why dont they try to steal Verizon's CEO cause theyre starting to get great lookin phones.
I don't think the *CEO* has much of an interest in phone selection.
bu they do have an interest in the bottom line and if the phones arent there, then the customers wont be either; and hence, the bottom line will be affected. Take a look at AT&T...without the iphone, how many people would have considered using their crappy service with their slow EDGE service?? once the apple POS came out, i bet AT&T is lookin mighty good to the investors/stockholders.
Joe,
AT&T had 65 million subscribers before the iphone came out. even with a few million iphone subscribers, that phone in and of itself is not a huge deal, but overall, phone selection is a small differentiator.
And oh yeah, WiMAX is 4G data cell service with a small number of vendors supporting it and open technical standards. It is currently faster than 3G service. The question with WiMAX is that Sprint has probably the most robust 3G cell network out there currently. So if they couldn't leverage their 3G network to hold customers, then why bet the farm on 4G?
No offense Joe but I do not think you know what you are talking about.
i guess youre one of the many who bought the iphone.
Excuse my newbie business vocabulary, but what does "acting" mean?
I guess my question is, what's the difference between "acting" or "actor", and the real thing?
Like for Apple, Steve Jobs is the CEO, so who's the "acting" CEO?
My definition of acting is some impostor pretending to be someone else, usually used on stage or in films...
Hmmm...I guess Gary should have forseen this. Get it? Forseen? 'Cause his name is Forsee? AAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I slay me!
vince mcmahon
I thought I'd post my own little blog about Sprint and why they have a wee public relations problem. Here's a piece of it for your reading pleasure...
Fear and Loathing at Sprint
As Sprint's Chief Executive Gary Forsee departs to mollify investors incensed over the company's loss of "high value" customers, I offer the sad tale of my $1,700 Sprint bill.
"How could this have happened?" I frantically asked the customer service representative recently.
"Well, we sent you out a new Treo 700p to replace your malfunctioning one (you've already sent back three, I notice) and you never sent back the old one,"
"Yes, I did," I said.
The rest is at http://news.ihollywoodforum.com/public/item/185857, or you can just go to my front page at www.ihollywoodforum.com.