Sprint to the Head of the Pack - NOT!!!!!!

Having worked in the telecommunications equipment industry for more than a decade, I have fond memories of my customers, including Sprint. Back in the 1990s I remember our engineers building a product for Sprint when it was planning to roll out an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) cell-based network called ION. Unfortunately for Sprint, the world went with IP (Internet Protocol) and the ION is in the dustbin of history.

Now to the business of making"larger than life" heros of CEOs by the media.

Back on September 27, 2004, Business Week ran an article titled "Sprint To The Head Of The Pack" that heaped praise on the telecom services provider Sprint.
It says " By following some unusual strategies, the carrier is blowing past competitors....It's a real mover," says analyst Viktor Shvets of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.....The real prize may come from future services Sprint hopes to offer through the cable partnerships. The company plans to persuade these cable customers to buy Sprint's cutting-edge wireless services. That would include letting customers preview movies on their wireless video phone on the commute home and then place an order to download the movie so it's waiting as they walk in the door.
Take it as a sign of the new Sprint. Lauer and Forsee understand that the winners in telecom won't be those standing idly by. Whether it's launching services -- or perhaps making an acquisition -- the onetime laggard is now in position to lead the way."

Fast forward to 13, 2008. The same Business Week says "Sprint: Still a World of Pain. The article reveals that "the mobile-phone giant's planned turnaround may involve selling off assets to comply with lenders' agreements." Apparently "the customers kept fleeing, revenue fell, and the losses grew, but Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse says the wireless company is starting to make baby steps in its Sisyphean turnaround.....The nation's third-largest cell-phone company said its customer base shrank by more than 1 million during the first three months of 2008. Even worse, those customers who haven't left are spending less each month. All told, the first-quarter results came in shy of analyst forecasts for both revenue and net loss. "

The WSJ reports that "Sprint Nextel Corp. showed signs of recovery in the second quarter as it reduced customer defections, but the struggling telecommunications carrier warned that subscriber losses would climb again. "We have a long way to go," Chief Executive Dan Hesse said in an interview. "We're talking about a nine-inning game, and a quarter's like an inning." The Overland Park, Kan., wireless company swung to a $344 million loss, compared with year-ago net income of $19 million. Revenue fell 11% to $9.06 billion. Sprint lost 776,000 "postpaid" subscribers to end the quarter with 38.9 million postpaid and 51.9 million total subscribers."

The business media and the popular press can serve society better if they did not give too much credit to the CEOs when their companies does well, because corporate performance depends on many variables. Of course, the CEOs leave with a nice package even when they perform poorly, so they never really have to "take the blame" when things go sour.