If you paid attention to the wireless landscape in the U.S. back in 2012, you might have noticed that T-Mobile, the fourth largest wireless provider in the states, had hired a wireless industry executive named John Legere as CEO. Legere, who had spent some time toiling for AT&T, was tasked with making T-Mobile competitive and did he ever do an amazing job.
By the time Legere left T-Mobile on April 1st, 2020, T-Mobile was the second-largest U.S. wireless provider and he had helped make the company the most innovative wireless firm in the country. His un-carrier initiatives focused on relieving customer pain points, offering free services such as Netflix, and rewarding customers with freebies every Tuesday. Legere was named the best wireless CEO in the U.S. for five consecutive years by the business website Glassdoor.
John Legere’s turn around of T-Mobile was simply amazing
The executive could be cruel toward the competition when he needed to be, but also came up with big ideas to put the company ahead of its rivals. Under Legere, T-Mobile spent a combined $34 billion to pick up the 600MB low-band spectrum it uses for its nationwide 5G service, and to buy Sprint for its 2.5GHz of mid-band spectrum. While Verizon and AT&T wasted their time with fast mmWave signals that don’t travel far, T-Mobile had mid-band airwaves that were easier for its customers to find and delivered download data speeds 10 times faster than LTE.
Former T-Mobile CEO John Legere wants a shot at running Twitter
Legere turned T-Mobile over to his former right-hand man Mike Sievert who has done a masterful job with the carrier. Legere has been uncharacteristically quiet since leaving T-Mobile, that is, until now. Before we focus on John again, let’s look at a multi-billionaire who is having problems right now.
Just the other day we told you what a mess Elon Musk has been making with his new $44 billion toy. Some of you know it as Twitter. He’s fired people before realizing that he needs them, he monetized the blue verifying checkmark eliminating its importance on the platform. He added new gray verification checks that can’t be purchased eliminating the meaning of the blue checkmarks. He then eliminated the gray checkmarks before deciding to bring them back.
It’s obvious that when it comes to running a social media site like Twitter, Elon Musk has no idea what he is doing. Enter
John Legere. In a tweet sent by the former T-Mobile CEO (it does have a blue verification checkmark which actually means nothing), Legere writes, “Hi @elonmusk, maybe I should run @twitter. You can stop managing daily business, and “content moderation” and then support product/technology, let someone else “run” @Twitter. I’m expensive but so is what you paid for twitter.”
Musk responds to Legere with the answer you’d expect from him
Legere might be exactly what Twitter needs. And his unconventional thinking would be perfect for the type of business that Twitter is in. And while one uninformed Twitter user tried to insult Legere’s track record at T-Mobile, John tweeted back “That’s funny … I ran it very well I believe until I had a successful succession to @MikeSievert after Sprint merger, and he has led @TMobile even better!”
Musk eventually replied to Legere’s initial tweet to him by writing “No.” And that might turn out to be the biggest mistake Musk ever makes. Perhaps he doesn’t realize how John Legere took a company like T-Mobile, well behind Verizon, AT&T, and even Sprint, and made it arguably the the top 5G carrier in the states. And T-Mobile remains hot on Verizon’s trail while remaining as innovative as error.
Someone like Legere could come up with a plan that could increase the value of Twitter. Not only does he have great name recognition in the states, he knows how to get under the skin of his competitors in a way Musk can’t. Couldn’t you see John insulting other social media apps including Trump’s Truth Social? And it’s not like he hasn’t had a Twitter fight with the former president before.
So Elon, don’t let your pride get in the way of making some more money. Look what happened to Sam Bankman-Fried. The FTX founder started last week a cryptocurrency billionaire and lost everything (if you believe media reports). Meet with John and see what he can do for Twitter before it becomes a $44 billion albatross around your neck-if it isn’t already.
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