- Handelsblatt is reporting that T-Mobile's CEO may leave the board and step down as CEO within a couple of years
- COO Srini Gopalan is considered the most promising candidate to succeed him, insiders reportedly said
- Sievert reportedly told the board that he wanted to take a break
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert is said to be stepping down before the end of his current contract, according to a report by the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Monday.
Citing several people familiar with the situation, the news outlet said Sievert has indicated internally that he wants to take a break, stepping down either this year or next.
His expected successor is Srinivasan Gopalan, who joined T-Mobile as chief operating officer in March after various leadership roles in the industry, including as the head of parent Deutsche Telekom's German business.
T-Mobile declined to comment on “rumors or speculation,” but according to a spokesperson, Sievert “loves his job” and is jazzed about the “Challenger to Champion” strategy that T-Mobile is pursuing over the next several years.
T-Mobile is using the 5G era to build up network prowess, largely thanks to its acquisition of Sprint and Sprint’s treasure trove of 2.5 GHz spectrum. Sievert took over from previous T-Mobile CEO John Legere when the Sprint merger closed in 2020. Sievert’s contract runs to 2028.
“Mike and the board are delighted that we have recruited Srini to join our team as COO and bring his experience to our business. The entire senior leadership team is excited to work together to deliver on the ambitious goals we’ve shared with the public,” the T-Mobile spokesperson said.
T-Mobile shares were trading down about 3% on Monday afternoon. Under Sievert’s leadership, the company grew its market share and set a new market cap record for service providers in the telecom industry. Its current market cap is $279.16 billion.
In a note for investors, Sam McHugh, head of Telecom Equity Research at BNP Paribas Exane, said the “bearish narrative” will be easy to paint: a CEO looking to depart at a point when the company is going through somewhat of a modest strategic shift, focusing a little more on price over volume in wireless and shifting a little into the fiber market.
That said, “there had been similar worries on the CEO transition when Sievert took on the role from John Legere, and the shares have risen 75% since then,” McHugh said. “In our view a transition from Sievert to Gopalan as CEO may well fit the new strategy better, as Sievert has been one of the key architects of the Uncarrier initiatives that the company is slowly moving away from, while Gopalan does have more experience with convergence.”