T-Mobile's Former Chief Collected $137 Million After Clinching Sprint Takeover
April 21 2021 - 6:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Drew FitzGerald
Former T-Mobile US Inc. boss John Legere and other top
executives reaped payouts worth hundreds of millions of dollars
last year, boosted by the cellphone carrier's surging stock price
and bonuses tied to its successful merger with rival Sprint
Corp.
Mr. Legere, 62 years old, collected more than $137 million in
compensation in 2020, according to a securities filing Wednesday.
Most of the payout came from the then-chief executive's severance
payment after more than seven years atop the Bellevue, Wash.,
company, as well as equity that vested early upon his departure.
Much of the payments to Mr. Legere and other executives hinged on
the carrier's consummation of its merger with Sprint, the outcome
of which remained in doubt until February 2020.
A favorable federal court ruling cleared the way for T-Mobile to
close its Sprint deal in April 2020, the culmination of a two-year
battle with regulators and nearly a decade of on-again, off-again
negotiations between the wireless companies. The merger was a boon
to T-Mobile investors, helping push shares up 72% over the past
year.
Current T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert's compensation totaled $54.9
million, most of which came in the form of stock grants. The value
of those stock-based payments could rise to as much as $72.5
million if the shares meet maximum performance targets. Mr.
Sievert, 51, took the reins at the company last year after serving
as the company's chief operating officer.
Other executives with long tenures at T-Mobile also gained
payouts in the double-digit millions. Neville Ray, the company's
president of technology, received a package valued at $33.2 million
last year. Longtime executive David Carey, an executive vice
president who retired along with Mr. Legere, collected compensation
worth $29.8 million.
T-Mobile last year vaulted over rival AT&T Inc. to become
the country's second-largest wireless network operator in terms of
subscribers. Sprint also provided its merger partner with a
valuable cache of wireless spectrum licenses that will support much
of the bandwidth for T-Mobile's planned fifth-generation
network.
Theo Francis contributed to this article.
Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 21, 2021 18:30 ET (22:30 GMT)
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