John Legere is officially leaving T-Mobile for an unknown destination
As T-Mobile inches closer and closer to wrapping up a merger that’s been quite a long time in the making, so is John Legere approaching a big career move first rumored last week. While the charismatic current CEO of the nation’s third-largest wireless service provider and the architect of the “Un-carrier” strategy is reportedly not in contention for the top job at WeWork after all, it’s been confirmed earlier today that T-Mo will get a new skipper on May 1, 2020.
His name shouldn’t exactly catch you off guard, as Legere jokingly called Mike Sievert his son on a number of occasions since he personally hired the COO back in 2012 while in fact spending all this time preparing to hand over the baton. Sievert began as T-Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, assuming Chief Operating Officer responsibilities in 2015 and adding President as a job title just last year.
After stepping down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of his contract on April 30, 2020, John Legere will remain a member of the T-Mobile Board of Directors, with Mike Sievert beginning his reign as President and CEO the very next day. Clearly, this transition has been a long time coming, but T-Mo may have hoped to make the move official after the closing of its union with Sprint.
Of course, as highlighted by Legere himself on Twitter, the CEO credited with T-Mobile’s steady growth in recent years is “not going anywhere soon”, staying on until April 30 to “focus on a smooth transition” and getting the Sprint mega deal done “for America.” In theory, there’s a very good chance the merger will indeed be finalized in a few months, although many people probably thought the exact same thing a few months ago.