Sprint Filings

First, I know it's been awhile since I've made a post. I'm sure I've upset my loyal readers (Hi Mom & Dad!) by my lack of blogging dedication so let me say that I do apologize. It's just that I was so upset after the death of Michael Jackson* that I could not bring myself to post with my usual wit and charm. So, now that I've taken time to recover, I have a new found sense of energy and vigor. As such, I will be posting more of the worthless drivel that I used to post; at least until the next celebrity death.

* - Does anyone realize why Michael Jackson went to heaven after Farrah Fawcett? It's because he always did like coming in a little behind.

Clearly a lot has happened to Sprint in my blogging absence. For one, the long rumored outsourcing of the Sprint network to Ericsson is a done deal. Also, Sprint recently acquired pre-paid operator Virgin Mobile. While that deal has been criticized, I must admit it does fit into Sprint's long term plans to buy successful companies and run them into the ground. So, they have that going for them.

And, just a few days ago, Sprint released its (in my not-so-humble opinion) horrific 2nd Qtr results and, in doing so, tanked the Sprint stock. In fact, I haven't seen anything go down that fast since I watched a Shannon Tweed movie on Cinemax (incidentally, Shannon looks great for being 75). Anyways, in announcing the results, Dan Hesse said "Job One" was to increase subscribers. The Sprint CEO, ladies and gentlemen! He's been on the job for almost 2 years and he just now realizes (or announces) that the priority is to add customers? Are you f'ing kidding me? Good lord, even former potato Terri Schiavo could've figured that out and she died four years ago. What other brilliant insights do you for us, Dan? Maybe you can comment on how Sprint needs to improve customer service and reduce churn. Or maybe you can explain that Sprint needs to increase revenue and decrease costs while leaving out the roadmap on how to accomplish said goal. I think Dan should write a book on how to be a CEO; he can title it "How to Screw Up a CEO Gig You Didn't Deserve In the First Place" (subtitle: "How to Point Out the Obvious, Run a Business into Oblivion, and Get Paid Millions to do so"). It'd be pages of mindless platitudes, trite sayings, and, for good measure, he could top it off with some cliched fillers. A best seller, I'm sure.

Anyways - back to my point - even an anonymous schmuck with no background in economics or accounting who looked at a few quarterly reports for about 10-15 minutes total realized that Sprint must increase customers and, in turn, revenue. Hell, in a previous post, I even wrote "However, even if they continue to cut operating expenses they are still losing hundreds of millions of dollars each quarter. They must find a way to stop losing revenue." So, how long did it take me to reach that conclusion? Apparently less time than it took the CEO. So, even with all the changes recently, at least some things remain consistent. It's good to be back.