According to the Wall Street Journal, WeWork is in talks to hire T-Mobile CEO John Legere. The beleaguered company is looking for a CEO who can turn it around, much as Legere is credited with turning things around at T-Mobile.
Legere has a long history in the telecom industry, having worked at AT&T and Global Crossing Ltd. before taking over the reigns at T-Mobile. This experience makes him an ideal candidate to help run a company in a disruptive industry.
It’s not clear if Legere will take the job. Having successfully led T-Mobile through record-breaking growth, a 240% increase in stock price and a merger with Sprint that is likely to go through in 2020, Legere was in line to receive $109 million if performance goals were met.
Given how integral Legere has been to T-Mobile’s success, stock prices of both T-Mobile and Sprint were down following the WSJ’s report. If WeWork is successful at wooing T-Mobile’s colorful CEO, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything will change at the magenta provider. T-Mobile has increasingly been grooming Legere’s deputy, Mike Sievert, to take over for him. Mr. Sievert has featured more prominently in T-Mobile events. If Legere does leave for WeWork, it’s a safe bet that Mr. Sievert and T-Mobile will continue what he started, disrupting the wireless industry and being the scourge of Verizon and AT&T.