T-Mobile chief executive officer (CEO) John Legere is currently in talks with WeWork to take over the top position at its parent We Co.
The news of talks between John Legere and WeWork for the CEO position at the struggling office sharing startup comes amidst the ongoing merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. Prior to these talks, Legere was set to remain as chief executive of the combined company resulting from the merger of the third and fourth largest wireless carriers in the US.
WeWork has been looking for a new CEO to bring stability into the company after its scheduled initial public offering (IPO) failed which led to the ouster of co-founder and now-former CEO Adam Neumann.
Legere is known for successfully turning around the telecoms company in recent years, transforming it from a struggling carrier with below average coverage to the fastest growing network in the US.
There are some similarities between Neumann and Legere, with the both of them implementing a nontraditional leadership style as well as rocking similar hairstyles.
However, Tim Hubbard, a professor of management at University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, argued that Legere could bring the leadership pedigree to WeWork that Neumann lacked. He said: "Hiring John Legere would serve as a signal to the market that the company wants to increase its legitimacy without losing its core, radical nature."
The timing of Legere's possible departure is also crucial for T-Mobile and Sprint as their $26 billion merger, although allowed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department, a lawsuit was filed by 15 states and the District of Columbia to block the deal, expressing concerns over what the merger could mean for the marketplace.
The lawsuit is scheduled for next month and both companies have expressed that they will not finalize the merger unless the court rules in their favor have made a number of commitments about their services. Meanwhile, news of Legere's talks with WeWork was followed by about 2.5% decline in T-Mobile's stock on Monday afternoon.
