Sprint sale rumors again

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pstokely
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by pstokely »

beautyfromashes wrote:
earthling wrote:According to the Star, the new CEO will move to KC area, which is better sign than going to the new innovation center in Bay Area but still would set expectations that corp HQ eventually leaves.
Any chance that this new, younger CEO moves into downtown and pushes for better company connection to the core with a new highrise location built to attract a younger, energized workforce? Yeah, probably not. :(
if they wanted a younger energized workforce, they'd move to Silicon Valley
pash
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by pash »

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Last edited by pash on Fri Feb 10, 2017 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by Highlander »

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 99247.html

How many employees does Sprint even have left in KC? Whatever happened to the proposed merger?

Will this latest round of layoffs re-ignite the border war as new space becomes available at the Sprint Complex?

and finally - is it just me or does Sprint's new CEO look a little like Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"? If I were an employee, I'd kind of expect a coin toss for my job.
earthling
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

Softbank gave up on buying out Tmobile after getting negative feedback from the Feds. The Feds fear it would reduce competition. The Feds got what they want because now a price war is going on. Sprint will have to go it alone at least for a while, which is probably good for KC.

I think there are about 7K Sprint employees in KC (down from 25K+ 15 years ago) but there are a bunch of contractors not on Sprint payroll and supporting companies in KC that is thousands more. Sprint may cut more jobs in KC but it could be short term and also maybe even increase contractors in KC not on direct payroll. It looks good on paper to reduce direct head count but it could increase indirect head count that Sprint doesn't have to provide benefits to.

If Sprint would just complete the 4G/Spark rollout to every single cellsite (not 70% in a market), they'd be in really good shape. I'm still using them and Spark works really well between home/work (midtown/dotwntown) - and its still unlimited data.
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

This rings too true. Just get it done Sprint and you'll be OK.

Image
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

Good news for KC. Sprint appears to be giving up on Tmobile acquisition and shutting down their Silicon Valley office and moving most of those jobs to KC...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/b ... sizes.html
pstokely
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by pstokely »

earthling wrote:Good news for KC. Sprint appears to be giving up on Tmobile acquisition and shutting down their Silicon Valley office and moving most of those jobs to KC...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/b ... sizes.html
how are you gonna get liberal creative types to move to what they think is a cornfield in a red state?
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by pash »

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Last edited by pash on Fri Feb 10, 2017 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
earthling
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

pstokely wrote:
earthling wrote:Good news for KC. Sprint appears to be giving up on Tmobile acquisition and shutting down their Silicon Valley office and moving most of those jobs to KC...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/b ... sizes.html
how are you gonna get liberal creative types to move to what they think is a cornfield in a red state?
KC has attracted 4 SF Bay area companies in last year. Texas attracts many, even more of a red state. Have spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley, there are a lot more Asians (which JoCo attracts in KC area) and the techies tend to be more anarchy-libertarian than liberal or conservative. There's really more of a culture of consumerism in Silicon Valley, which is what JoCo is too - relatively more conformity also.
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by Highlander »

earthling wrote:
pstokely wrote:
earthling wrote:Good news for KC. Sprint appears to be giving up on Tmobile acquisition and shutting down their Silicon Valley office and moving most of those jobs to KC...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/b ... sizes.html
how are you gonna get liberal creative types to move to what they think is a cornfield in a red state?
KC has attracted 4 SF Bay area companies in last year. Texas attracts many, even more of a red state. Have spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley, there are a lot more Asians (which JoCo attracts in KC area) and the techies tend to be more anarchy-libertarian than liberal or conservative. There's really more of a culture of consumerism in Silicon Valley, which is what JoCo is too - relatively more conformity also.
I don't think all that many people relocate on the basis of their political bias. Career opportunity, avocational interests and paycheck generally trumps all else.
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

The turnaround has started. Sprint gains 1M customers, even some postpaid for first time in years...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... rowth.html
flyingember
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by flyingember »

Highlander wrote:
I don't think all that many people relocate on the basis of their political bias. Career opportunity, avocational interests and paycheck generally trumps all else.
I'm suddenly reminded of the huge 20th century migration of blacks away from the south and segregation.

I would argue that people do reloacte all the time on political bias but that there has to be an expectation that the move doesn't make their life worse.

and then there's this
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics ... ving-apart
chingon
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by chingon »

flyingember wrote: I'm suddenly reminded of the huge 20th century migration of blacks away from the south and segregation.
I'm not sure that's the best example.

But certainly people immigrate for political reasons, and always have.
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by FangKC »

I guess RadioShack's name will change to RobotShack. :lol:

RadioShack and Sprint deal can move ahead
Sprint (NYSE: S) announced its intentions to co-brand 1,750 RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) stores as part of RadioShack's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in early February. The Overland Park-based carrier will operate a store within a RadioShack store, the company said, and will occupy about a third of the retail space in locations it selects throughout the United States. Sprint has yet to reveal where it plans to set up the locations.

...

Sprint in the past has said it's planning to offer more electronics aside from phones, particularly in gaming and toys. Mike Werth, director of Sprint's product accessories, previously said that toys and gaming were a great fit for the carrier and a natural evolution for its product portfolio.

A few examples include the company's sale of two Parrot SA "minidrones," both of which can be controlled remotely by smartphones and tablets. The company used one of the flying toys to drive foot traffic into Sprint stores in the summer.

Sprint also will reportedly be selling robots with the power to interpret emotions at their stores. Via its parent SoftBank Corp., Sprint will offer an autonomously-controlled, consumer-grade robot — named "Pepper" — in stores by this summer. Billionaire SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son introduced Pepper in June, realizing the company's 2010 plan to foster a world in which robots live harmoniously with humans.

It's also possible that Sprint may be beefing up its e-commerce and using the co-branded stores as pick-up locations for phones, accessories, toys and other devices. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said that Sprint is exploring many opportunities for expanding its distribution channels, which RadioShack should offer it.

Sprint also has fewer retail locations than any of the four major U.S. carriers. Sprint has about 1,100 locations, Verizon Wireless about 1,700, AT&T Inc. about 5,000 and T-Mobile US Inc. roughly 8,000. T-Mobile does not separate its Metro PCS prepaid brand locations from its flagship brand.
http://tinyurl.com/ok5uoye
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by TheBigChuckbowski »

Since last August, when he moved to the Midwest to become the CEO of Sprint, Claure has buttoned up his image. “I can’t go out to clubs here or anything,” he told me in October, when I met with him in Kansas City. “I love to have fun. Life should be enjoyed. But we’re laying a lot of people off. It’s not a good idea for me to be seen having too much fun.” Claure has since set his Instagram account to private. (He’s also changed his profile description, which used to read “El Rey”—The King—back to just his name.) His tweets, occasionally still touching on Bolivian soccer, now largely center on his work at Sprint. Which is a little boring. Claure sounded bored by Kansas City in general.

“Once or twice a month I have to get out of here,” he said. “Go to New York or somewhere, just for the stimulus.”
http://reprints.longform.org/howler-mia ... elo-claure
kboish
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by kboish »

The guy sounds like a real gem.


Other interesting quotes:
The Sporting Kansas City game to which I invited Claure was the first he ever attended. He was excited. “They’ve got crazy fans here,” he said before kickoff. “I heard they’re sold out every time.”

The game was a sellout. The atmosphere felt electric, surprisingly so, since the hometown Royals had a playoff game in Baltimore at the same time. Kansas City backs all its teams, Claure learned in the short time he’d lived in the city. “For example, I go to see the Royals games, it’s so much fun,” he told me. “I go to the Chiefs games, there’s 80,000 people dressed in red. They die for their team. The fountains are in red. I mean, the whole city gets behind them. That’s something Miami could be a little better at.”
Claure got us seats both in the Sprint box and also outside, at midfield, in the very first row. I’ve never sat closer to the pitch during a professional game. When we were up in the skybox, team officials brought over personalized “Claure” jerseys for Marcelo, his wife, and for both of their young daughters. Everyone received scarves, too. At halftime, Cliff Illig, one of Sporting Kansas City’s five principal owners, stepped in to introduce himself. We talked a bit about Howler, and about my being there to write about Claure. Another owner, Robb Heineman, joined the conversation.

Claure asked about the stadium. It was beautiful, he said. How much did it cost to build? They told him. Any public money involved? There was. He hadn’t realized the stadium was located so far from downtown, apparently unaware of the MLS stadiums in Commerce City, Foxborough, Chester, Bridgeview, Harrison, Sandy, Carson, and Frisco. Is the club making money? he asked. “Just barely,” said Illig, really drawing out the word “just.” Who are your most expensive players? Heineman said their costliest signing was the Argentine forward Claudio Bieler. He sounded frustrated. Bieler was having a tough season.

“That’s sports,” Heineman explained with a shrug. You do your homework, you make smart decisions, and things can still go wrong. One aspect of MLS that both Kansas City owners really liked was the centralized structure. All the players are owned by the league, which helps keep payroll—and the players—in check.

“If labor ever tells us they’re going to strike, we’d be like, ‘Fine, we’ll replace each and every one of you,’” said Heineman.
I believe SKC is currently disputing the accuracy of this conversation...
From Sporting Kansas City on 2.13.15: “Sporting Kansas City steadfastly denies that these statements were made and object [sic] to the method used by the reporter.”

From Mr. Claure on 2.13.15: “Mr. Powell’s story includes words I never said. Our box at Sporting Park was loud and crowded, it was a lively match, and there were no notes recorded, so Mr. Powell must have misheard my comments about Major League Soccer. That’s unfortunate, because one of the most important points I made was my belief that MLS will be the world’s premier league in 10 years due to an ownership model that promotes competitiveness and parity across all teams.”

From Sporting Kansas City on 2.23.15: “On behalf of Sporting Kansas City and Major League Soccer, we are extremely dissatisfied with the validity of what has been presented regarding Robert Powell’s article and the unauthorized, unscrupulous technique in which [sic] was used. We completely deny and disagree with the alleged quotes, context, and description of what transpired for less than six minutes in the private suite at the Sporting Kansas City versus Chicago Fire match on October 10, 2014. The unethical nature and inaccuracies from Howler are surprising and disappointing, and this situation has irreparably damaged the relationship. We had given unfettered access to Howler in the past, going above and beyond for articles, MLS media and marketing tour [sic], big events and more. In light of what is transpiring, we will no longer accommodate your publication in the future and are doing so with the support of Major League Soccer.”
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by bobbyhawks »

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:
Since last August, when he moved to the Midwest to become the CEO of Sprint, Claure has buttoned up his image. “I can’t go out to clubs here or anything,” he told me in October, when I met with him in Kansas City. “I love to have fun. Life should be enjoyed. But we’re laying a lot of people off. It’s not a good idea for me to be seen having too much fun.” Claure has since set his Instagram account to private. (He’s also changed his profile description, which used to read “El Rey”—The King—back to just his name.) His tweets, occasionally still touching on Bolivian soccer, now largely center on his work at Sprint. Which is a little boring. Claure sounded bored by Kansas City in general.

“Once or twice a month I have to get out of here,” he said. “Go to New York or somewhere, just for the stimulus.”
http://reprints.longform.org/howler-mia ... elo-claure
He sure knows how to win people over.
earthling
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

Rumors a Sprint/TMobile merger will be attempted again given Trump regime more likely to approve. Could be announced soon, though it wouldn't be surprising if Charter or Comcast bid for either one as well.

The KC impact of Sprint/TMobile merging could be great or devastating, I'm not optimistic. If a CableCo buys Sprint, the HQ for wireless division has better chance staying in KC.

Sprint has been turning around fairly well on its own. They are gaining customers again, stock is up and the value of company increased almost $15B since acquired by Softbank. But partly because they ripped out a lot of jobs, a lot in KC. KC used to have over 30K Sprint jobs, now I think it's around 5K, maybe less. Amazon will soon have more employees in KC than Sprint. Cerner passed them up years ago.
bobbyhawks
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by bobbyhawks »

I wonder if this has to do with Trump's recent conversation with SoftBank. In exchange for Trump making sure the merger goes through, he claims SoftBank will invest $50 billion and create 50k jobs that Trump can take credit for.
earthling
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Re: Sprint sale rumors again

Post by earthling »

^Yeah, seems pretty obvious. But the larger CableCo's want to get into wireless and don't want this merger so is plausible that Comcast may attempt to outbid Softbank for Tmobile. If they succeed, Softbank may get frustrated and sell off Sprint to Charter (who now owns TWC). Maybe not probable but one realistic possibility.

Might be better for KC if a CableCo buys off Sprint than for Tmobile to merge. Or for Sprint to stay independent from other telcoms one way or another.
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