The merger of Sprint Nextel (S) and SoftBank is now complete, and the new company formed by that merger will be headed by current Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, both companies announced today.
Hesse, president and CEO of Sprint Nextel since December 2007, will also serve on the new Sprint's board of directors, which will be chaired by Masayoshi Son, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank. The vice chairman will be Ronald Fisher, a director of SoftBank and president of SoftBank Holdings. Other directors will include former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael G. Mullen, Robert Bennett, Gordon Bethune, and Frank Ianna. More directors will be named later by Sprint and SoftBank.
Hesse's annual target compensation with the new Sprint on completion of the merger is $15.6 million.
The new company is named Sprint Corporation and will be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under its current ticker symbol, "S". Headquarters for the company will remain in Overland Park, Kan.
SoftBank paid $21.6 billion for a 78% share of the merged company with Sprint Nextel shareholders holding 22%. Stockholders may elect to trade one share of Sprint Nextel for one share of Sprint Corporation, or take a combination of $5.65 in cash and slightly more than one-quarter share of the new company for each share.
