Son Struggles with Sprint

It’s been two years since SoftBank bought Sprint Corporation for $22 billion. Even though Chairman Masayoshi Son has been committed to expanding the company and building out their network, they recently slipped into last place in subscribers. On August 4, Sprint reported total connections, which fell below T-Mobile’s, putting them into fourth place. However, Son made an appearance on the quarterly conference and expressed his confidence in the company. “I’m extremely excited about the turnaround of Sprint,” Son 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.” Son also noted that he and Claure have a plan for a big turnaround, but will it be enough? Ryan Knutson of The Wall Street Journal noted that Sprint needs a massive network overhaul to stay competitive, and its shares have lost about half their value since SoftBank took over. Even though Son showed enthusiasm about the future of the company, Knutson noted, “He [Son] left out one telling detail: No one wanted to buy the struggling carrier.”