Sprint Names Marcelo Claure New President And CEO

Sprint announced this morning that Marcelo Claure will be the new company president and CEO, effective Aug. 11.

Claure, 43, is replacing Dan Hesse, who has been at the helm of the third-largest wireless carrier in the country since 2007. In January, Claure joined the Sprint board of directors, and is the CEO and founder of Brightstar Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp.

"Marcelo is a successful entrepreneur who transformed a startup into a global telecommunications company. He has the management experience, passion and drive to create the strongest network and offer the best products and services in the wireless industry,’ said Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son in a statement. ’While we continue to believe industry consolidation will enhance competitiveness and benefit customers, our focus moving forward will be on making Sprint the most successful carrier."

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The announcement comes one day after a Wall Street Journal report revealed Sprint dropped its bid to acquire T-Mobile. The decision to abort efforts to acquire the fourth-largest carrier in the U.S. was made in an afternoon Sprint board meeting. The two companies together would have become a challenger to both Verizon and AT&T.

Effective on Aug. 11, Claure will resign from his post at Brightstar and SoftBank will acquire his remaining interest in the company.

"I’ve had the unique opportunity to spend the past few months actively engaging with Sprint’s Board, management team and front-line employees," Claure said in a statement. "I am honored to have the opportunity to now lead the Sprint team as we mobilize to become the wireless carrier of choice in the U.S. In the short-term, we will focus on becoming extremely cost-efficient and competing aggressively in the marketplace. While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint."

The company said that Claure will move to the Kansas City area as he plans to be working out of Sprint headquarters in Overland Park, Kan.

Hesse believes the company is being left in good hands despite his absence.

"I’m proud of the resilience of Sprint’s people during a difficult transformation and I’m optimistic about how they will build on a foundation of innovation to succeed in the future," he said in a statement. "It’s been an honor to have led such dedicated teammates for more than six-and-a-half years. Marcelo has been a great addition to Sprint’s Board and his entrepreneurial background, business savvy, industry experience and strong relationship with Masayoshi Son make Marcelo an excellent choice to lead Sprint going forward."

PUBLISHED AUG. 6, 2014