John Legere is officially leaving T-Mobile for an unknown destination
As T-Mobile inches closer and closer to wrapping up a merger that's been quite a long time in the making, so is John Legere approaching a big career move first rumored last week. While the charismatic current CEO of the nation's third-largest wireless service provider and the architect of the "Un-carrier" strategy is reportedly not in contention for the top job at WeWork after all, it's been confirmed earlier today that T-Mo will get a new skipper on May 1, 2020.
His name shouldn't exactly catch you off guard, as Legere jokingly called Mike Sievert his son on a number of occasions since he personally hired the COO back in 2012 while in fact spending all this time preparing to hand over the baton. Sievert began as T-Mobile's Chief Marketing Officer, assuming Chief Operating Officer responsibilities in 2015 and adding President as a job title just last year.
After stepping down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of his contract on April 30, 2020, John Legere will remain a member of the T-Mobile Board of Directors, with Mike Sievert beginning his reign as President and CEO the very next day. Clearly, this transition has been a long time coming, but T-Mo may have hoped to make the move official after the closing of its union with Sprint.
Of course, as highlighted by Legere himself on Twitter, the CEO credited with T-Mobile's steady growth in recent years is "not going anywhere soon", staying on until April 30 to "focus on a smooth transition" and getting the Sprint mega deal done "for America." In theory, there's a very good chance the merger will indeed be finalized in a few months, although many people probably thought the exact same thing a few months ago.
Despite formal approvals from both the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, a lawsuit filed by a number of state attorneys general continues to block the happy ending of a convoluted saga. As far as John Legere is concerned, we'll be sure to keep an eye on his job prospects as we're curious to see what company will give credit to his decidedly unorthodox management style next.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: