Let’s do a little math…
On October 17th Sprint announced it would lay off 452 employees from its headquarters. Add that to the 477 area employees laid off in March and that comes to 929 jobs lost in 2014 thus far. That leaves approximately 6,500 employees here in town.
Which means Sprint is now more landlord than occupant on its campus.
Sprint employees hoped that this last round of layoffs might bring the local job losses to a halt. And they were led to believe that was the plan. But in the words of Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.
That punch landed Monday when Sprint announced it would lay off 2,000 more employees and cut its earnings forecast for 2014. If all goes as planned, it will lower the company’s payroll by $400 million. My sources tell me, this time out, those 2,000 will come from sales, service, project management and customer care.
Just as I predicted a few weeks back.
That we would see a shift to the Left Coast and more Softbank influence, remember?
Concurrent with last week’s announcement of cutting at least 65 IT and network engineers from the campus, the new CEO said the company would welcome up to 50 SoftBank Corp. engineers to help with its network.
Then, last week, Sprint named Softbank’s Junichi Miyakawa as its technical COO to oversee the completion of the network overhaul. Assisted by, of course, 50 of this own engineers from “home.”
“We’ve decided to make some leadership changes. More changes are coming,” Claure warned.
Marcelo Claure
SEC filings show that SoftBank is paying $8 million for rent and operating expenses for two office buildings in swanky Two Circle Star Way in San Carlos, Calif. Currently called the “executive briefing center” for “general use,” its 240,000 square feet is configured for 1,000 SoftBank employees.
See the trend?
Over yesterday and today I’ve talked to 15 or 20 of my contacts inside the campus compound walls. Each said its been made clear; the new leadership and the new culture is coming from Brightstar and Softbank. Which is a good thing. I said here as well, because incoming CEO Marcelo Claure had to realize that the biggest obstacle to his future success would be overcoming the Sprint “culture.”
That the Sprint culture had become the customer and if he was going to make any substantial change, the culture had to change.
Sprint had to return to serving the customer, not itself.
Sprint wants to wash the blood out of the gutters and write this whole mess off in 2014, then move forward with a clean slate.
How badly do they want that?
An offer was made in September to buy out your well coiffed scribe’s pension plan.
For me, that meant they were willing to write a check in December, that exceeds what my total, monthly payout would have been from age 65 – 75 and I’m still several years away from being able to take retirement.
I discussed this with my financial advisor and that’s exactly what I intend to do.
Can you spell, present value of money?
So the heat is on with packages being offered right and left.
I spoke with a close, personal friend this morning. She was in her car, driving to meet her boss and discuss her options. Her boss has already decided to take the money and run. And with 15+ years in, this is the first time she’s actually considered it as well.
Sprint seems to be offering 2 weeks for every year of service, variable benefit packages and a $1-3,000 signing bonus, of sorts if you take the package.
And more people are paying attention, as its rumored that in June of next year, Softbank takes over decision making for the severance terms and packages. Most people I know think they should get out while the getting is good.
Not only is Sprint offering a nice, fluffy parachute, KC is looking for lots of talent now, with a reported 2,500 IT and PM positions available in the market.
Garmin is hiring, and who can forget the new big man on campus, Cerner’s, plans to add 15,000 jobs over the next decade. Now more than ever, new Sprint castaways may have an even better shot at staying here and becoming reemployed.
That said, this is all far from over.
Cue Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight” and crank up the bass; here it comes. Because right now, on the Sprint campus, you can hear a pin drop!
And Sprint’s stock is down 17 percent @ $5.16.
well well well….
Wislun: you’re the one who wrote for months about your “insider” knowledge
at sprint. And what happened? Did your insider knowledge give you any
real “inside” info on sprint’s future? Were you right about the merger that
you so gleefully told us that you were “the first to break the news”…. that you special insider numbers and plans of what sprint would do.
WELL…WHAT HAPPENED?
NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so please please please stop the “insider” reports.
Problem is (if you really know insiders in the departments you mentioned) you’re
off base again.
I did meet with some of them on a project I worked on…and they told me point blank that the other companies you mentioned don’t pay as well as sprint.
One IT pro with 20 years of experience..said “they’re not hiring people in their
50’s or 40’s…they’re outsourcing work and wanting younger applicants who are
familiar with all the new technologies. A guy/girl who’s been in the business
for that long couldn’t keep up with the new technologies…so we’re screwed”. So please mr. wislun: no more gossip or rumours.
You’ve already done that before.
See t mobile got over 1 million new customers. It’s obvious what went wrong.
IN my opinion (and I was just a one time customer) the sprint culture you talked
about was 1000% off base.
Where we guys like you and all the highlypaid experts when sprint treated
it’s customers like dog sh*t?
This “culture” b.s. is old hat. If you get customers…treatthem right…give them
a great product and service. Don’t make them talk to overseas people you can
barely understand or wait on hold for 30 minutes.
It’s really simple wislun. You and all those people at sprint didn’t get it!
Oh…if you know anyone who works for cerner…listen to their story.
And please no more b.s. rumours and innuendos.
And please stop this “culture” b.s. The culture and service and products
at sprint we pure crap. End of story!
Marcelo is right. Give away the product. I think I saw an ad for 10 lines for
$100 a month….that doesn’t change the culture that just brings you slow paying/non paying customers to add to your accounts…
All business is pretty simple…sell a good product…take care of your customers..
plan for the unexpected….work your ass off…and don’t treat anyone like
a piece of crap.
How hard was it for sprint management/employees to understand that.
Look at who’s successful. You don’t need a Harvard biz degree to figure
this out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time to buy Sprint?
🙂
Gordon, I think its got a ways to drop. You could see it in the mid $4’s, possibly lower. Long term, I think they will pull it out. The new guy is going to shake the trees. Hes made more from less in the past. He took a broken down neighborhood phone store that was so bad it was given to him and made his first real money that led him to Brightstar. The guy is uber smart and has huge balls. If he can’t do it, it can’t be done.
bail out now. When you’ve got people rolling to the
competitors ( was wrong…t mobile added 2.3 million
new customers…I don’t know how they breakout the numbers)
and with a price war coming…and a guy like shoedog who
has been wrong every time on key statements…
I say bail out now. You never get a second chance to
make a good first impression.
The Marcello guy might be good as a hatchet man…but
the sprint brand is pretty dead. For those who buy the
phones its a non player.
They need a complete makeover…start again…but pushing
cheap packages has never saved a company like that.
Give the people 100 lines for $100…won
t matter. All you’ll get is chasing bad money.
Look at blockbuster…kmart….jc penney!!!!
they ran like dinosaurs…they didn’t adapt to the changes
in the market…and they had clowns thinking that fewer
sales people and fewer customer service people was the
answer.
Sprint needs a major overhaul before they
proceed/
Isuggest you read mr. helzbergs book where he
rightfully says ‘DONT SAY IT…BE IT!”
hope sprint survives..their tax breaks and 6500 employees
affect that 119th to 135th street corridor.
But you could tell something was wrong. When a supposed
high tech company builds a billion dollar headquarters and
the people says it looks like a prison…they’ve got more
problems than they can handle.
The campus looks like a prison because the architect specialized in prisons previously.
Technically, that’s incorrect, Rich. The thought behind the campus design came out of Bill Essrys head wanting it to be remeniscent of Harvard. I think we can all agree that was a huge MISS and it does, indeed look institutional, but that’s why.
I had coffee with Leathers during the proposed MCI merger. He said his desire was to see it all moved to Jackson, MS, put a giant chain link fence around the campus and turn it into low income housing, just to piss everyone off!
Harvard? are you serious shoedog.
Harvard? look like Harvard?
Where were you. I thought you were in the
penthouse with the big dogs.
No wonder this company and its people
still struggle all these years.
wow….you can’t pay enough for such
stupidity.
As I project several years ago .. Sprint is moving to California. The Japanese don’t understand kansas.
Shoot, Jack… most of our own country doesn’t understand Kansas.
I don’t understand kansas.
I agree with you, Jack. There was no reason “several years ago” to pick California as an option. Jackson, MS, yes, during the MCI talks, but not CA. Esry kept a home and club membership in Santa Barbara but that’s as close as that got.
Yesterday handily showed Kansans don’t understand Kansas.
If you are still a Sprint employee, you might want to learn Japanese and the art of bowing.
Money can fix a lot of problems. Son of Softbank has a lot of money to turn the ship around, but it takes time. The former CEO let too much slide on his watch, but he did improve customer service. There’s no doubt about that. The new CEO looks like he might be the best one they’ve had yet, based on his track record. I’m just glad Sprint now has the lowest prices. I got tired of the fleecing from Verizon and AT&T a long time ago and enjoy more money in my pocket. The service works well.
Nice take, Travis. I had one of the first Sprint phones in town, back when it was PCS. Hesse totally turned around customer service. The new guy has deep pockets and the loyalty of Son. That’s going to mean something going forward.
sprint is dead..unti la miracle happens. Money means nothing.
You hire guys like me to clean houseand recreate the united
telecomm culture……or whatever youcll it…
its not an easy climb.
one day sprint campus will be covered with weeds and
overgrown grass….
Death by 1000 cuts- to Sprint in KC.
Cerner is a sweatshop with lots of churn. Working 7am-7pm works fine if you’re young and just starting out as a software developer. Not so much if you have a family.
EXACTLY….heard from young recent grads that its tra vel 5 days a
week all over the nation….get back late Friday…pack and leave kc sunday
night;.
Great job……so mr shoedog…go find some cerner employees…they
know what its like…sweat shop/!!!!!!
that’s what these corporations want…cheap labor…people exhaudsted from
their jobs and big profits.
Shut them down….we’re starting 2016 real early…
don’t you get it shoedog and hearne and southy….we’re fighting a
war in America. We’re losing…..once great now facing the greatest
challenge ever.
We are to leave the nation better than we inherited it…now we’re
leaving the next generation with a pile of shit and no jobs and no
opportunities.
Join us!
Rich, like any firm, I’m sure there are people who are dreadfully unhappy at Cerner. It’s also a training ground for lots of kids fresh outta school. At the same time, I know a lot of people there since they are a client of mine. Three MD doctors who left successful practices, friends of mine, exceedingly happy. Two Masters level RN’s who work in the field at new hospital installations, both love it. I’m sure there are those who feel they do too much for too litte, but I can show you examples of that about anywhere.
I can’t speak for their healthcare departments so what you say may be true. But in IT, in which I’ve worked in the KC area for over 15 years, Cerner’s widely known for having a hell hole work environment. Most people tend to prefer employment that lets them see their wife and kids once in awhile.
md’s who left successful practices? Not heard that one.
Only reason is because drs. can’t make what they used to because of
insurance cutbacks..increase insurance…and the costs of running
a practice were out of sight.
so they went to work for hospital groups or corporations.
I imagine that’s what these drs. did.
that’s what s happening right now across the medical fields.
and the docs are making half their previous money.
let sprint move thejobs…we’ll shut them down in 90 days.
they’re on the ropes now.
Wait til we take down the Koch brothers and their empire. They tried a tv
public relations campaign….we’re after them…
the revolution has begun….get ready…because you don’t have to
be a right wing nut to have a gun ready to use!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here’s how bad Sprint is. We were misquoted a rate they couldn’t actually provide and then promised credits they never gave. I was told by Sprint not to pay my bill until the matter had been resolved and they then terminated my service and made me pay to have it reactivated and penalties for late payments. Confronted with my paperwork and emails showing all of the preceding to be true, Sprint Customer Service asked for a specific window of 1:30 to 3:30 PM so they could speak to me in-person and iron all of this out to my satisfaction. You guessed it. Sprint didn’t call.
If ISIS had a telecommunications arm, it would be Sprinty
Michael, that just sucks, plain and simple. All I know is I’ve not had those issues since Hesse straightened out customer care. In all fairness, due to my tenure there, I still have friends in place that one phone call usually fixes something outside the normal customer service circles…..
I know my son battled for almost a year getting a TEXAS tax removed from his Kansas bill. He had taxes for both states listed in the line item charges and he’d never lived in Texas at any point. So, I do know those things exist, but its far better than it once was….
If ISIS had a telecom arm….. I love that….