Marcelo’s the Man

Masayoshi Son, Sprint’s chairman and controlling stockholder, hasn’t been to the company’s home town during his two years with the company, until now. Son granted The Star his first local interview at the Overland Park, KS, campus. While Son had previously made comments to Wall Street Journal analysts, he told The Star that he never lost confidence in CEO Marcelo Claure. “Marcelo is the best partner to make this turnaround,” Son said. “He’s a street fighter. He fights from the underdog situation his whole life.” (The Star) Son also explained that even though regulators shot down the idea of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger, he thinks it should be approved and makes so much sense in his view. Even though Son’s confidence had diminished in the company, it’s back. On the August 4 conference call he said, “So as you might have imagined, when I entered into the U.S. market, I had a plan to have a consolidation in the industry but that’s no longer the case. So I lost the confidence for some time. However, the last few months I am totally refocused to help Marcelo and the team have the historical turnaround of the company, and I’ve been working – very, very involved especially on the networks side.” But he never doubted his decision in selecting Claure as CEO. “Marcelo has a strong ability and passion to sell to the customers,” Son told The Star. “Marcelo is the guy.” (Photo by Noriyuki Aida / Bloomberg: Son speaks in front of an image of Claure during Tokyo news conference.)