Sprint Nextel Corp. / S

About Sprint Nextel Corp.

2001 Edmund Halley Dr., Reston, Va. 20191
www.sprint.com | 703-433-4000 | Founded: 1899

Industry: Telecommunications | Category: Top 100 Companies

The past year has been difficult for Sprint-Nextel, as it shed workers and lost high-paying customers to rivals Verizon Wireless and Cingular-AT&T. In the fourth quarter, Sprint-Nextel lost 306,000 monthly subscribers, who generally spend more than pre-paid customers do. Most of the losses involved phones with the push-to-talk technology for which Nextel was best known before its 2005 merger with Sprint.
In March, Sprint-Nextel learned that it had lost a competition for the federal government's biggest telecommunications contract ever, a 10-year deal potentially worth $20 billion.
Still, it had 53.1 million wireless customers at the end of the year, up from 47.6 million in 2005. For all of 2006, profit was $1.33 billion, down from $1.78 billion in 2005. Sprint officials warned of the losses in a January statement, which also said the company would cut 5,000 jobs, an ongoing process.
In August, the board of directors removed chief operating officer Len J. Lauer at the request of his boss, chief executive Gary D. Forsee, who assumed those responsibilities. Two months later, executive chairman Timothy M. Donahue announced his retirement.
Sprint also announced plans to build a network using the WiMax technology backed by Intel to provide widespread wireless Internet access at speeds similar to DSL. The mobile service would cost more than home DSL connections.

Chairman and CEO: Gary D. Forsee

CFO: Paul N. Saleh

2007 Financial Data

Total employees: 64,000 | Local employees: 5,000