OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Sprint announced Wednesday it was replacing current CEO Dan Hesse with Marcelo Claure, entrepreneur and founder of mobile phone distributor Brightstar.
The announcement comes a day after Sprint's board decided to scrap its $32 billion acquisition of T-Mobile after coming under severe scrutiny from regulators. The company said the management changes are meant to build the business and take the company forward after its botched acquisition attempt.
"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," said Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son.
Sprint decided to go it alone and said it would compete with market leaders AT&T and Verizon by building its subscriber base, after losing customers for years.
Claure, a Bolivian American, built Brightstar into a $10 billion mobile distribution company with a presence in 50 countries. SoftBank, which has a stake in Sprint, acquired Brightstar in January to give it more control over phone makers and added Claure to the Sprint board.
Claure will have to deal with declining subscribers, who have left the service provider due to poor network services, which can be attributed to an extensive network overhaul by Sprint.
The new CEO will earn a base salary of $1.5 million and a $500,000 singing bonus. Claure could see his salary triple after bonuses kick in.
The news comes after Bloomberg reported T-Mobile was expecting to reject French telecom provider Iliad's offer of $15 billion for control of the company.
