Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse will step down from his leadership role later this month, an announcement that was anticipated in the wake of the telecommunication company’s decision to call off its courtship of T-Mobile US.
The breakdown in acquisitions talks, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal and others, ended months of negotiations between the two companies. News reports said they ultimately faced a tough fight getting approval from regulators. The deal would have combined the third- and fourth-largest wireless phone operators in the U.S., a combination that would have created a stronger rival to AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) but also led to concerns as consumers would have had fewer options when picking a mobile provider.
On Wednesday, Sprint (S) named Marcelo Claure as the company’s next president and CEO, effective August 11. Claure, 43 years old, joined Sprint’s board in January and is the founder and CEO of Brightstar, a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp.–which also owns an 80% stake in Sprint.
What’s ahead for Claure? The company said in a statement he will focus on making Sprint “extremely cost efficient” and will also move to compete “aggressively” in the telecom sector.
“While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint,” Claure said. He will resign from his position at Brightstar when he takes the top job at Sprint, and Softbank said it intends to buy his remaining interest in that company.
Hesse had served as CEO and president since late 2007. He led the company through a series of acquisitions, including the merger with SoftBank.
