Sprint to Cut 8,000 Jobs

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Monday, January 26, 2009 10:13:04 AM

Palm Pre Sprint Sprint, Palm's exclusive Pre launch partner in the US, just announced today that it plans to cut 8,000 jobs or approximately 14% of its workforce. The cost cutting measure will save $1.2 billion annually.

A Sprint spokesperson told InternetNews.com that the "layoffs will not impact its Clearwire WiMAX partnership or the impending launch of Palm's new Pre smartphone in the first half of this year."

Sprint is the third largest US wireless carrier behind Verizon and AT&T. The company currently has around 50 million subscribers as of the end of the third quarter.

"Labor reductions are always the most difficult action to take, but many companies are finding it necessary in this environment," said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. "We continue to improve the customer experience and these improvements are reflected in much higher levels of satisfaction in customer surveys and in independent performance tests. Our commitment to quality will not change."

The labor cost reductions are the latest action in the company's efforts to make its cost structure more competitive in the industry and to remain financially secure in a challenging economic environment. Sprint repaid $2 billion in debt in the second half of 2008, and renegotiated its credit facility terms with the expectation of sufficient liquidity to pay debt coming due during the next two years. At the end of the third quarter 2008, the company had a cash balance of $4.1 billion, and said that it had expected to continue to generate Free Cash Flow in the fourth quarter.

Sprint will release its fourth quarter 2008 financial results on Thursday, Feb. 19, which is earlier than previously announced.

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Layoffs at Sprint

palmit @ 1/26/2009 8:09:25 AM #

Let's hope Palm only has a 3 month exclusive with Sprint and it will be on VZW soon after it ends.

RE: Layoffs at Sprint

joad @ 1/30/2009 4:43:06 PM #

Isn't Verizon the company that takes on phones and then dumps them in favor of the next "hot" thing 3-6 months later? I can't imagine trying to get my Treo 755 repaired there, they'd probably need to send off to China for a refurb. Plus, their insurance coverage was terrible the last I checked. I roam on their lines with Sprint, and pay 1/2 of their ridiculous fees...

Palm "Preh": as in "eh, where's the microSD and Garnet emulator?"

LAYOFFS @ PIC???

Tuckermaclain @ 1/26/2009 4:32:44 PM #

Temporary hiatus (sp)? Don't tell me PIC is circling the financial drain and had to give unpaid leaves of absence to the staff for one more swirl. Hope it's just a holiday. I've gotten to enjoy the rants of hundreds (and a special few) fanatics. Where would we all go?

RE: LAYOFFS @ PIC???

mikecane @ 1/26/2009 4:33:47 PM #

Come to me, you Prephiles!!

http://prepoint.wordpress.com/

But not Gekko.

RE: LAYOFFS @ PIC???

Ryan @ 1/26/2009 4:46:38 PM #

Just a vacation :) First proper one in some time I may add. The site will still be looked after, but new articles will be less frequent in my absence.

RE: LAYOFFS @ PIC???

freakout @ 1/26/2009 10:47:18 PM #

I tried to convince Ryan to let me take over as webmaster while he's gone, but he wasn't keen on my plan to boost traffic by 5000% with steamy webcam strip shows and pages upon pages of Pre-themed lolcats. :(

RE: LAYOFFS @ PIC???

mikecane @ 1/27/2009 6:30:31 AM #

Pre-themed LOLcats! Now there's an idea!! I Can Haz Synergy?

Tested a BB Storm Tonight

Gekko @ 1/26/2009 4:39:18 PM #

i tested a BB storm at a vzw store tonight. what an awful, miserable device. the OS is slow, buggy, and not very accurate/responsive. the build quality is creaky. for those that don't know, the whole display pushes in like one big keyboard key when you press in a virtual key on the virtual keyboard. this is innovative???

and the vzw sales chick had the absolute WORST friggin breath - i had to run out of the store asap.

RE: Tested a BB Storm Tonight

hkklife @ 1/26/2009 5:24:17 PM #

My take on the Storm?

LCD: Nice size, brightness & color saturation, no problems there.

Screen: Horrible. I detest the "click" screen and the whole thing feels like it's going to break or fall out. I could see all of the gunk in my pocket getting trapped between the body & the edges of the screen

Battery: Decent capacity. It's removable, ther are higher-capacity replaceents available, and it's got more juice than the Pre. Could be a nice lesson for Palm & Apple.

Overall build quality: Decent. Not the best but there's nothing wrong with it. I still feel the BB Bold is put together a bit better though.

Feature set: Global GSM + CDMA EVDO Rev.A, 1gb of internal secure memory + a microSDHC slot? Sign me up! The 3.5mm headphone jack plus the handful of physical buttons are fantastic as well. Palm and Apple, please take notes from RIM.

Camera: A bit laggy but it produces nice still shots and records video. Again, Palm and Apple can learn a lesson here.

OS: Garbage. RIM needs a total overhaul here in the worst way possible.

Onscreen keyboard: Garbage

Performance: Works great as a phone, good reception & call volume. For a PDA/smartphone, it's garbage. Lags & resets galore, and the accelerometer is pitifully slow.

UI: Better than past blackberries but it's still garbage compared to the powerful triumverate of iPhone/Android/WebOS.

The current Storm is a huge disappointment, but it's on Verizon (my carrier of choice) and does perform solidly as a phone. RIM has the determination, carrier support, user base and deep pockets to keep plucking away until they have a solid competitor to the iPhone. Apple's complacent and Palm is still on the ropes.

There's a solid opportunity for RIM here but I cannot help but think they'll never be a total success as long as they keep trying to straddle the fence between the consumer & the corporate worlds.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Tested a BB Storm Tonight

mikecane @ 1/27/2009 6:32:45 AM #

See, that was never even on my radar, especially after the initial bad press it got. Seems it's still junk I can ignore.

Next!

Or, rather: Bring on the Pre!!!

Vacation???

Gekko @ 1/26/2009 4:39:53 PM #

OUTRAGEOUS!!!

RE: Vacation???

Gekko @ 1/27/2009 2:59:16 PM #

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y3wDvDEeww

Sprint layoffs...

joad @ 1/27/2009 12:40:39 AM #

Nice to see Sprint finally addressing the quality of their customer service, even LESS ought to bring the customers back. NOW there'll be even FEWER staff at Sprint to give me inaccurate information!

Probably firing the few "skilled" ones too, as they tend to make more than minimum wage. That strategy worked out well for Circuit City.

Palm "Preh": as in "eh, where's the microSD and Garnet emulator?"

RE: Sprint layoffs...

mikecane @ 1/27/2009 6:31:46 AM #

They're basically offloading functions to Best Buy. Domestic outsourcing, really.

RE: Sprint layoffs...

joad @ 1/30/2009 4:44:57 PM #

Huh? Sprint can't screw up customer service bad enough, they need to bring in Worst Buy to put the nail in the coffin?

Palm "Preh": as in "eh, where's the microSD and Garnet emulator?"

Pre Super Bowl Ad?

Gekko @ 2/1/2009 10:28:55 AM #

NBC sells out Super Bowl ads for record $206M
2 hrs 39 mins ago

TAMPA, Fla. – NBC said on the eve of Sunday's Super Bowl that it has sold the last two of the 69 advertising spots for the game, pushing total ad revenue for the event to a record $206 million.

The network said its total of $261 million in ad revenue for all of Super Bowl day also is a record, calling it an especially impressive feat in the middle of the economy's steep downturn.

The Super Bowl is the premier advertising event with an U.S. audience of 100 million viewers, many of whom watch closely during game breaks for the debut of entertaining, big-budget commercials. The ads have sold for between $2.4 million and $3 million per 30-second slot this year.