American carrier T-Mobile has announced that its outspoken CEO of more than seven years, John Legere, will be passing on the role to Mike Sievert next year. Legere will continue to serve as CEO through April 30, 2020.
In his time as CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere has been one of the most outspoken executives in the industry, often calling out rivals for practices it deemed unfair and pushing for changes. Legere also led the creation of the Un-carrier initiative, which often made T-Mobile stand out from its competitors and aimed to do away with some of the aforementioned unfair practices towards customers. Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom - which owns 66% of T-Mobile US - and member of the Board of Directors, complimented Legere's work over the past seven years:
“John Legere has had an enormously successful run as CEO. As the architect of the Un-carrier strategy and the company’s complete transformation, John has put T-Mobile US in an incredibly strong position. I have the highest respect for his performance as a manager and as a friend, I am very grateful to him for the time together(...). John taught everyone at T-Mobile that if you listen to customers and empower employees, you can change a culture – and by doing so – change a company and an entire industry. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank John, and of course Mike, and all the employees for everything they have achieved over the past seven years. We have tremendous respect for John’s leadership and appreciate his incredible contributions to T-Mobile’s success.”
Most recently, T-Mobile biggest focus has been on the upcoming merger with competitor Sprint, which will be Legere's main goal during his remaining time as CEO. The merger has been approved by both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission, and it's expected to be finalized early next year.
Legere's departure is part of a leadership succession strategy that's been established for some time, and that Legere himself helped devise alongside the Board of Directors. His successor, Mike Sievert, currently serves as President and COO of the company and is also a member of the Board of Directors. Sievert also played a major role in designing the Un-carrier initiatives throughout the past few years.
It's currently unclear where John Legere will head after his departure from T-Mobile.
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