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Sprint Nextel Takes $29B Loss as Customers Walk

Posted Feb 28, 08 10:00 AM CST in Technology,  Business 

(Newser) – Sprint Nextel posted a net fourth-quarter loss of $29.45 billion and doesn’t expect a quick recovery, the Wall Street Journal reports. The No. 3 US wireless company will hold off dividend payments and draw down credit lines for protection as more customers leave the service. It has also announced a beefy $100-a-month unlimited plan including voice, web, email, and more.

While both Sprint and Nextel once had market capitalizations of $33 billion, the combined company’s is just $26 billion; it expects to lose 1.2 million customers in the first quarter, the same number who dropped Sprint's service in 2007. The company's fourth-quarter loss includes a $29.7 billion writedown related to Sprint's 2005 acquisition of Nextel.

Source Wall Street Journal

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Various models of phones are displayed on a computer screen as a customer is helped at a Sprint store in Murray, Utah, in this Feb. 28, 2007 file photo. Sprint Nextel Corp. posted massive fourth- quarter...   (Associated Press)
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is pictured at the Embarq headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. in this May 17, 2007 file photo. Sprint posted a major fourth-quarter loss. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)   (Associated Press)
A Sprint phone store sign is enveloped by sunlight and shadows in this Feb. 28, 2007 file photo, in Murray, Utah. Sprint-Nextel Corp. posted a major fourth-quarter loss. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, file)   (Associated Press)
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business  • cell phone industry  • Sprint Nextel  • writedowns  • wireless service  • cell phone plans  • losses


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