Sprint names Marcelo Claure its new CEO

Sprint announced today that its board of directors has named Marcelo Claure to be the company’s next president and chief executive officer. Claure will be replacing Dan Hesse, who has been Sprint’s president and CEO since December 2007.

This news officially confirms yesterday’s reports that Claure would be taking the helm and follows the news yesterday that Sprint would end its attempts to acquire T-Mobile. A deal would have valued T-Mobile at $32 billion and given Sprint a realistic chance at rivaling Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.

However, regulators were working hard to prevent a merger in an already-dense mobile market. Now, Sprint will try to challenge competitors the old-fashioned way — by growing its customer base.

In 1997, Claure founded Brightstar, a Miami-based cell phone distributor, and he has since transformed the company into a successful global business, raking in $10.5 billion in gross revenue for the year ended in 2013. He has been on Sprint’s board of directors since January.

“I’ve had the unique opportunity to spend the past few months actively engaging with Sprint’s Board, management team, and front-line employees,” said Claure. “I am honored to have the opportunity to now lead the Sprint team as we mobilize to become the wireless carrier of choice in the U.S. In the short-term, we will focus on becoming extremely cost efficient and competing aggressively in the marketplace. While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint.”

Claure will officially resign from his position as CEO of Brightstar on Aug. 11. Hesse, who is stepping down to make room for Claure, does not seem to have hard feelings about Sprint’s decision. 

“It’s been an honor to have led such dedicated teammates for more than six-and-a-half years,” he said.