Sprint Nextel loses CFO, CMO and sales president

Tough times continue at Sprint Nextel, as the company said Thursday that three of its top executives are on their way out.
CFO Paul Saleh, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Tim Kelly and President of Sales and Distribution Mark Angelino will leave the company on Friday, according to Sprint Nextel. It wasn't clear if the executives were leaving voluntarily or were being let go, and company spokeswoman Leigh Horner said in an e-mail that Sprint Nextel isn't "commenting further or characterizing the nature of these departures."

In a press statement, Sprint Nextel President and CEO Dan Hesse thanked the three for their "dedication and contributions" to the company, and wished them luck in future endeavors.

Hesse took the reins just over a month ago, after former Chairman, President and CEO Gary Forsee was ousted in October. Facing an uphill battle that Sprint has been losing against bigger rivals, he had been expected to make significant changes. The company's marketing has failed to give it a distinctive image, which would be critical to kick-start a recovery, according to industry analysts. Customer-service glitches are also to blame, they said.

Saleh, the departing CFO, was named interim CEO after Forsee's departure but was passed over for the permanent job. The company's board may have sought a relative newcomer rather than inflame passions on either side of an ongoing feud between former Sprint and Nextel employees, analysts said. Saleh was a Sprint executive before the two carriers merged in 2005. Hesse previously ran Sprint's Embarq spin-off, but doesn't come from either side of the fractious marriage.

Sprint Nextel is looking to replace the departing executives permanently, but in the meantime their duties are being handled by existing executives.

William G. Arendt, currently senior vice president and controller of Sprint Nextel, will serve as acting CFO, while John Garcia, currently senior vice president, product development and management, will serve as acting CMO. Paget Alves, currently Sprint Nextel's regional president for sales and distribution, will serve as acting president, sales and distribution. All of these executives will report directly to Hesse.

The news of the executive shake-up follows the announcement last week that Sprint would be laying off 4,000 employees and the close 125 of its 1,400 retail outlets due to the net loss of more than 100,000 customers in the fourth quarter of 2007. At the end of the year, Sprint said it had 53.8 million subscribers, including 40.8 million customers of its traditional post-paid service.

The company plans to announce its full fourth-quarter results on Feb. 28.

While Sprint struggles, rival carrier AT&T seems to be doing better, thanks to its partnership as the exclusive service provider for Apple's iPhone device. AT&T's revenue was up 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, largely driven by increases in mobile phone and broadband customers, the company announced Thursday.

AT&T saw a net gain of 2.7 million mobile subscribers during the quarter, and most of them came to the company through its iPhone partnership, the company said. Apple said Tuesday it sold 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter.