Sprint Looking to Replace CEO Forsee  

Reports: Telco’s Board May Announce New Chief Executive by Early December

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 10/5/2007 8:00:00 AM

Sprint Nextel has initiated a search to replace chairman and CEO Gary Forsee as the wireless carrier has trailed competitors in subscriber acquisition and retention, according to published reports.

The company’s board members in August started the search to replace Forsee -- under whose watch Sprint has formed a joint venture with four cable operators to offer the Pivot mobile phone service --  and hope to announce the company's new CEO by early December, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. The Journal said sources indicated the new chief executive likely will come from outside Sprint and that some high-profile telecommunications-industry veterans have been approached.

The Sprint board stepped up efforts to find a successor to Forsee after the company was unsuccessful in finding a replacement for former chief operating officer Len J. Lauer, who stepped down in August 2006, according to a report in The New York Times.

Sprint’s top choice for CEO, former Vodafone executive Bill Morrow, fell apart after Morrow asked for a guarantee that he would succeed Forsee as CEO within 18 months, according to the Journal.

 Sprint declined to comment on the reports.

Forsee, who was named CEO in March 2003, led Sprint’s acquisition of Nextel Communications two years ago. Sprint also formed a joint venture with four cable operators – Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse Communications – to offer mobile-phone service under a new brand, Pivot.

In August, Forsee said the amount of time it has taken for the joint-venture partners to get service up and running was “a disappointment.”

The service is currently available in close to 30 markets, with 17 of those in Time Warner Cable divisions.  Sprint last said it expects Pivot to be in 40 markets by the end of 2007.