Gary Forsee out as Sprint's CEO

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]

[Saint @ Oct 8th 2007 1:32PM]

It was about time they got rid of him. Hopefully the new CEO will help Sprint's "sinking ship".

[Mark @ Oct 8th 2007 2:46PM]

I wonder just how much of a golden parachute he is getting for running Sprint into the ground.

[ScOObyDoo @ Oct 8th 2007 1:54PM]

Fingers crossed that he takes his call center staff with him.

[Mark @ Oct 8th 2007 2:18PM]

« 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.

[rcastrousa @ Oct 8th 2007 2:30PM]

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

[beanspants @ Oct 8th 2007 3:06PM]

just because you aren't aware of WIMAX's severe limitations doesn't make questioning its implementation a 'beancounter' decision.

[Anthony Huff @ Oct 8th 2007 2:51PM]

I think WiMAX will take off. To bad the CEO has to take off sooner.

[Scott @ Oct 8th 2007 3:01PM]

Wow, I totally read that as "Gary Busey out as Sprint's CEO."

[Archanon @ Oct 8th 2007 3:54PM]

Quoted for Truth.

[Matthew Hilario @ Oct 8th 2007 3:14PM]

What's a WiMAX? Is that so I can play nintendo wii on my sprint pcs?

[Virtuous @ Oct 8th 2007 3:15PM]

Wimax represents Sprint's opportunity to break out of the pack. Otherwise it will have to be content stealing customers from its carrier competitors.

[joe @ Oct 8th 2007 3:45PM]

good, cause under him, Sprint phones suck. Why dont they try to steal Verizon's CEO cause theyre starting to get great lookin phones.

[Mark @ Oct 8th 2007 4:24PM]

I don't think the *CEO* has much of an interest in phone selection.

[joe @ Oct 8th 2007 5:12PM]

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.

[beanspants @ Oct 8th 2007 6:36PM]

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?

[Otto @ Oct 8th 2007 6:02PM]

No offense Joe but I do not think you know what you are talking about.

[joe @ Oct 8th 2007 6:15PM]

i guess youre one of the many who bought the iphone.

[Joey @ Oct 8th 2007 7:21PM]

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...

[Blah @ Oct 8th 2007 8:30PM]

Hmmm...I guess Gary should have forseen this. Get it? Forseen? 'Cause his name is Forsee? AAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I slay me!

[john romero iv @ Oct 9th 2007 4:14AM]

vince mcmahon

[Michael Stroud @ Oct 9th 2007 10:47PM]

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.