Michel Combes, SPRINT - NWIDABizjournal KC reported (link below) that during a recent Sprint town hall, CEO Michel Combes said plans for the executive management of new T-Mobile US Inc. are “nearly done” and would represent a “well balanced” mix of talent from both companies.

Combes said Sprint’s leadership is working with T-Mobile COO Mike Sievert on announcing the executive team in tandem, according to a transcript of the meeting filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Combes told Sprint employees on August 2:

I think the intent is to be able to disclose as quickly as we can what will be the new lead team moving forward, meaning at the EVP levels… Because we believe that it’s important for all of us to know what will be the new management team of this company, which will help you to figure out what will happen moving forward, and to start to have people whom with you can, let’s say discuss, question, understand what is going to happen.

Combes stressed the importance of understanding the “architecture of the group,” which will have T-Mobile CEO John Legere stay at the helm and Sievert remain COO. A recent report from CNBC said that it’s likely Sievert would take over as CEO from Legere.

Plans for Combes’ future are far less clear, and without an obvious slot in the merged company’s C-suite, he will possibly likely return to France with a nice severance package.

Combes also said:

Have in mind you might think it’s not very comfortable for me to manage a company if we already know what will be the management of the future… I guess (it’s important) that you get it as quickly as possible, for you to understand where and how you work going forward. That’s why I am advocating that we should do that in the next coming weeks…

After the executive leadership announcement, Combes said employees could expect senior leadership announcement within two months and VP directors and below closer to the day Sprint and T-Mobile settle with the DoJ and the states backing the merger. He said that day could come anywhere between October and March.

Sprint COO Nestor Cano was more frank, telling Sprint employees the time between day zero and day one, when T-Mobile and Sprint actually close the deal, could take as long as four months.

Combes assured employees that Sprint will be in a good position if it’s forced to stand alone, hinting that Sprint’s digital-first approach would help position to company to operate successfully without the help of T-Mobile:

As I alluded to on different occasions, we are investing in capabilities in different bits and pieces of the company, which will help the merge, but which would also help the company if it were to stay standalone. When we invest, for example, in digital analytics, of course it would help us shift our operating model moving forward… We always try to find the right balance investing in things, which makes sense for the merge and for non-merge, because I wish to make sure that we maintain the competitiveness and the potential of growth of our platform.”

Read the entire article here

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