OVERLAND PARK, Kan.,
Jan. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint
(NYSE: S) appointed telecom and cable industry executive
Michel Combes as President &
Chief Financial Officer. Combes will assume the role on
January 6 and will report to Chief
Executive Officer Marcelo Claure.
Combes will also be appointed to Sprint's Board of Directors at a
later date.
Combes will support Claure and the senior leadership team as the
company enters a new phase of transformation to deliver profitable
growth. He will be responsible for leading the company's financial
operations, strategy and continued cost transformation.
"Michel is an extremely capable and accomplished global telecom
and cable industry leader and I know bringing him on board will
help to accelerate our progress as Sprint begins the next chapter
of our transformation," said Claure. "He is a visionary executive
with a proven track record of successfully transforming leading
telecom and media companies and will help us to execute our
strategic plan and strengthen our team."
Sprint Chief Financial Officer Tarek
Robbiati will leave the company on January 31 after a seamless transition of
responsibilities.
"Tarek's contributions to Sprint have been invaluable including
his leadership to drive operating cost reductions and execute
innovative financial transactions to fund our turnaround and
significantly reduce the company's cost of capital," said Claure.
"I thank Tarek for his hard work and commitment to Sprint and wish
him continued success in the future. Today Sprint is in its best
liquidity position in years and that is in large part due to the
financial discipline and innovative financing that Tarek
implemented."
For more than 30 years, Combes, 55, has led telecommunications
and cable companies including wireless, wireline and equipment
manufacturers. He is globally respected as a turnaround strategist
who achieves success through a mix of growth and cost management.
Most recently, he served as CEO, and previously Chief Operating
Officer, of Altice N.V., a convergent global leader in telecom,
content, media, entertainment, and advertising, and chairman and
CEO of SFR Group, a leading French telecommunications and media
company. During his tenure he led the company through the
integration of newly acquired U.S. businesses, developed
significant partnerships and media rights to bring exciting and
in-demand content to its customers.
Combes delivered two of the most successful turnarounds in the
telecommunications industry in recent history. In 2013 he joined
Alcatel-Lucent when the company was near bankruptcy. As CEO, he
helped strengthen the company and orchestrated its sale to Nokia.
From 2003 to 2006, Combes held various senior financial positions
with France Telecom, including CFO and Senior Executive Vice
President for Financial Rebalancing and Value Creation. When he
joined the company it was the second most indebted company
worldwide in terms of short-term liabilities. During his tenure, he
oversaw the operational transformation of the company and led the
financial restructuring of the business which allowed the
struggling company to rebrand as Orange, now the largest fixed and
wireless telecommunications operator in France.
Combes has also served as CEO of Vodafone Europe and chairman
and CEO of TDF, a French tower company. Combes also served as an
advisor to Brightstar, the company founded by Claure, to support
its global expansion. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and
Telecom ParisTech.
"I have known Marcelo for many years and am delighted to join
the Sprint team and build upon the great progress achieved to
date," said Michel Combes. "This is
an exciting challenge and unique opportunity to help lead a
distinguished company through an historic turnaround and its most
exciting period yet."
Combes will relocate to the Kansas
City area.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications
services company that creates more and better ways to connect
its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint
served 54 million connections as of Sept.
30, 2017 and is widely recognized for developing,
engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the
first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands
including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost
Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international
push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone.
You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or
www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
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SOURCE Sprint Corp.