| reply to mlundin
Re: Who cares? said by mlundin:Sprint is a has-been of a company. It's only a matter of time before they either fold or get sold in parts. They won't fold as they are a massive company that would be big enough to come out of Chapt 11, which they are nowhere near. But there is a huge chance they'll get sold off in parts as it is already happening...
Sprint Local - split off separately as Embarq
Sprint Xohm - to split off with Clearwire (though 51% owned by Sprint)
Sprint LDX - to be sold ATT or maybe MajicJack (hah)
Nextel - to be sold to current Alltel holding company after Verizon merger?
SprintPCS - to be sold to T-Mobile parent or SK Telcom?
Sprint backbone - to be sold to Level 3 or PSINet?
If Sprint doesn't completely sell these divisions to others, I could see divisions partially merging with others where Sprint is a part or majority owner and they become simply a holding company themselves.
They aren't a has-been company though. They still have over 50 million customers. Their revenue is greater than Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney, etc. |
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| You're right about the revenue, but who cares if it doesn't result in profit? Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney? They all made money last year. Sprint didn't. 50 million customers? Yes, but losing more than they're gaining every day. Losing customers and money with no end in sight is the sign of a dying company. With a market capitalization of 10 billion, you're right, they probably won't fold... but you won't see their name around for long either. |
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 jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | Profit is not the only factor that indicates success. There are plenty of reasons why immediate profit is not warranted as a sole indicator of how a company is doing or if improvements are being made. If you buy your competitor, for instance, the numbers might be in the red for a few quarters, but that would not tell the whole story. While it does not look cheery right now for Sprint, I see them turning the corner and I am another happy customer. If they are spending what money they do have in the right places, which it seems like they are, it's quite possible that they could right this ship. |
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| reply to mlundin
said by mlundin:You're right about the revenue, but who cares if it doesn't result in profit? Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney? They all made money last year. Sprint didn't. Neither have any of the car companies, are they hasbeen companies? Probably not. Sprint is nowhere near Chapt 11 and one thing for sure, the network won't just shutoff. It would be sold before that happens.
Large companies don't fold but could morph into something else, which is my point.
I suspect they'll at least stabilize by next year or so and show a profit again. The Nextel division could be sold by then, making them a smaller (but still large) F200 company with promise while solving the source of their drainage problems.
The CDMA side is growing, not shrinking. Xohm will be separate, funded by other parties as well, reducing the risk. Sprint's Internet backbone is the second largest in terms of connections. |
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| reply to jmn1207
"Profit is not the only factor that indicates success."
I beg to differ. At exactly what point do we consider sustained quarterly losses in excess of $100 million a success? Profit is the ONLY factor that indicates success. If you can't turn a profit, you won't be in business for long. |
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| reply to xenophon
"Neither have any of the car companies, are they hasbeen companies?"
Some of 'em, yea. If you think that a ginormus company can't fold in a matter of days, you don't have to look too far to be proven wrong: Bear Stearns? Enron? Granted, these were epic collapses related to gross negligence and mismanagement, but no one ever thought Studebaker, once a Down Jones Industrial Average component, would fold either... then one day it just disappeared. Companies can just disappear, doesn't matter how big they are. In Sprint's case, there is substantial infrastructure that would certainly be valuable to someone, but they're a disaster waiting to happen. Size does not make a company invincible. |
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jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | reply to mlundin
said by mlundin:Profit is the ONLY factor that indicates success. If you can't turn a profit, you won't be in business for long. That is just not true unless you happen to be as short-sighted as the previous CEO's of many failing businesses. Sprint is losing money, but rather than have some pathetic knee-jerk reaction and fire middle management and "trim the fat" to turn piddly salaries into temporary revenue, they are actually spending money on things that seem to be helpful in the long run. A complete resurrection is not just going to happen by magic, Sprint needs to make some drastic changes. It looks as though they are doing just that, and what little information we can publicly find seems to indicate that at least they are making better decisions with their money than the competition.
Your idea of profit being the ONLY factor indicating success is EXACTLY what caused Sprint to be in the situation they are seemingly correcting. |
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