Sprint layoffs start at the top
Well, not the very top -- give the guy a chance, will ya! -- but it's clear that heads are already starting to roll at Sprint Nextel following last week's disastrous report of subscriber churn, with the company's chief financial officer, chief marketing officer, and president of sales and distribution effectively getting the boot as of tomorrow. In respective order, Paul Saleh, Tim Kelly, and Mark Angelino will all be "stepping down" on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) -- the first casualties of a planned 4,000 head count reduction. CFO Saleh is getting replaced in the interim by Senior Vice President and Controller William Arendt, while the other two positions will be temporarily filled by unnamed executives. Sprint lost 639,000 valuable postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, and taking a look at our decidedly unscientific poll may give you some idea why.Update: Sprint sent us some more info regarding the other interim replacements: "John Garcia, currently senior vice president, Product Development and Management, will serve as acting Chief Marketing Officer. Paget Alves, currently Sprint Nextel's regional president for sales and distribution, will serve as acting president, Sales and Distribution. All will report directly to Hesse."
[Image courtesy of Chip Kidd, The New York Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MadMike @ Jan 24th 2008 10:11AM
Considering they have the worst network with the least coverage, I'm not the least bit surprised. They should just raise the white flag and get bought out by a bigger dog or billionaire philanthropists who are obsessed with Virgins.
bdk @ Jan 24th 2008 2:49PM
MadMike, I'm sure your mad because of the horrible customer service, and rightly so. However, please be aware that a certain billionaire you speak of (as well as many other carriers) lease towers from Sprint, the largest physical network in the country. At least, that's how it was explained to me when I worked there. I do agree that a buy-out would be best for all, but perhaps by someone like Google instead of Virgin. Sprint's value in stock has taken a tumble, but not it's true worth. Towers. The 700mhz auction, wimax, Android... three powerful players on the chess board. Think ahead a few steps before you post.
badqat @ Jan 24th 2008 10:43AM
I never had any issues with my phone service while with Sprint. However, their customer service was proof positive that something could suck and blow at the same time. Horrible.
Hitched my wagon to the iPhone and at&t and don't regret it one bit...night and day, night and day...
Corey Seymour @ Jan 24th 2008 12:48PM
its sad to hear that there are people in this world that are happy someone has lost their job. I am not a fan of Mark DeAngelino or Tim Kelly for that matter and trust me these three are leaving with a very hefty wallet. Think of the Retial employee that is soon to be fired not because they are bad but because someone above them screwed up so bad that they cannot afford to keep that store open. They wont get sevrence pay. Heck they will be lucky if Sprint signs off on their unemployment papers. Thats who I feel for. The little guy.
I Cant Tell You @ Jan 24th 2008 12:54PM
Thanks Corey.
I am one of thoes people. Not retail but I work at the Reston HQ but i'm worried i'll be unable to afford rent/pay for car/etc.
Keep US in your prayers...
Corey S @ Jan 24th 2008 1:10PM
While I have not had this happen to me I do know what you are saying. Its tough not knowing if today is the day you are going to be escorted out the door. When I left Sprint it was on my own accord but I watched many of my freinds and collegues being walked out in my 6 years there. I told myself that day I left that I wouldl never compromise my ethics or my values for a company. I was a Legacy Nextel employee and its a shame they wouldnt give Tim D a chance. If there is ever a person I would go back for it is him. He had value and knew how to treat people in order to make them enjoy comming to work everyday. Sprint take over was the worst day of my life. When SK Telecom comes in and rips them appart they will learn what I felt. Merger of equals was only a saying. It was mearly a leagal way of killing off a great brand that had a lock on a particular customer that Sprint wanted. The reason they could not get the customers in the first place was they didnt know how to treat them. Now they got them and look they are all heading for the hills. Do you think there is a reason that they had to buy those customers rather then aquire them naturally. Its cause they didnt want to have anything to do with a company like Sprint. Nextel always was as small player in a big world but at least they made money every year.
kidqwik @ Jan 24th 2008 1:51PM
I've had Sprint since like 1998. I've never really had that big of a problem with service. On occasion things go down, etc, just like cable, internet, blah blah. I have to admit their customer service was major crap the last few years. I avoided calling them because I didn't want to talk to someone in India that was clueless as to my questions. HOWEVER... In November that all changed. Anytime I called Sprint in November, I was connected with someone here in the US who was helpful and enjoyable to talk to. Sprint lost alot of customers because of the whole outsourcing thing in my opinion. Also for the last 2 yrs they had a REALLY bad phone selection. The Upstage? Junk... Now that they finally caught on and got the Blackberry Pearl, and are going for more Iphone like phones or ones that are more inivative. Hopefully this isn't too late for them to turn around. In comparison to Verizon's plans, I pay a lot less for voice calls and Blackberry plan combined than I would if I was with Verizon. If I call up and start talking to someone in India again, they haven't learned from their biggest mistake.
MadMike @ Jan 24th 2008 3:13PM
bdk:
I have never used Sprint personally. I have AT&T and a blackberry.
Being in Public Service, the county uses Sprint. We have Panasonic Toughbooks for use as MDT's that have Sprint WAN cards until they turn on the county-wide wireless data system for emergency services. Not that I have ever used it. I'm not a cop or a band-aid whacker. If my trucks are out on the road - the feces hit the orbital oscillator.
Fleagle @ Jan 25th 2008 8:06AM
I have to agree with CoreyS. Been there myself. Left Sprint last year (legacy Nextel) on my own just after they had their layoffs. No rhyme or reason as to who they picked to boot out the door. Some had 10 years experience and were 'players'. The ones that stayed were paid less so it looked good on the books, but was bad for business. You get what you pay for. Tim D was great when he was president at Cellular One NY and he did the same for Nextel. The thick heads in KC were just foolish to let him go, or perhaps he just saw through their nonsense and decided to leave before it got worse (in that case good for him). I would go back if he came back. SK and him and 5 billion infusion was a nice gesture and they blew it. That would explain why they cant get a good commercial out on the airwaves or leadership that would listen to their people in the trenches who know a hell of alot more about what the company needs than they do when they sit in their glass palace perched up high counting their mega-million golden-parachute money.
Nextel used to have employee surveys and Tim took those to heart and made things happen. Gary could care less, he knew everything! Well, guess he didnt see this one coming but then again, he has 54 mil to play with, the others that got booted out got zilch...