Days after announcing a merger deal with T-Mobile, Sprint has revealed some changes involving its CEO.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure (above) is being elevated to Executive Chairman, and Sprint CFO Michel Combes will take Claure's place as CEO of Sprint. The transition is expected to happen on or before May 31, 2018, and Sprint says that has started a search for a new CFO.
"Marcelo has done a remarkable job of turning around the Sprint brand and business, driving enhanced network performance, strong subscriber growth and significant cost reductions leading to the best financial results in Sprint’s history," said SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. "Marcelo has also positioned Sprint as a leader in the race to 5G, which promises to revolutionize the communications industry. He will continue to guide Sprint’s strategy and momentum as Executive Chairman through a successful closing with T-Mobile."
In addition to becoming Executive Chairman at Sprint, Claure has been named COO of SoftBank Group Corp. and CEO of SoftBank Group International. His duties will include overseeing SoftBank's investment in Sprint and the combined T-Mobile-Sprint should the merger be completed. Claure will also focus on creating new opportunities and collaboration between Sprint and SoftBank with regard to the Internet of Things, automation, and AI.
Marcelo Claure was originally named CEO of Sprint in August 2014. Since then, Sprint was leapfrogged by T-Mobile as the No. 3 carrier in the U.S., Sprint and T-Mobile came close to merging but ultimately broke off talks, and now Sprint has struck a merger deal with T-Mo. Also of note is that today Sprint announced an annual net income for the first time in 11 years and the best profitability in company history.
