Sprint Decides Kansas Is Home

Part of the old Nextel headquarters in Reston. In the heady days after the 2005 Sprint Nextel merger, parking lots were stuffed by breakfast time. (By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)
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Earlier this week, it appointed Ralph Whitworth, an activist shareholder who has pushed for sweeping changes at Sprint and other distressed companies, to its board.

"This is long overdue. It's actually shocking how long they've gone with dueling headquarters," said Michael Nelson, an analyst at Stanford Group.

Shares of Sprint rose 1.4 percent yesterday, to close at $10.14 a share.

Nelson said that when the companies merged, Wall Street was enthusiastic about the prospects of Sprint's buttoned-down executive ranks combining with Nextel's scrappy background as an entrepreneurial start-up that built a wireless network out of taxi-cab radios. The companies originally promised $14.5 billion in savings through this year because of the merger.

Sprint's location to Reston was initially a boon to the local high-tech industry, adding credence to the area's foothold as a national high-tech hub featuring giants like AOL and MCI.

Former employees recall that in the early days after the merger, excitement was high and the employee parking lots in Reston were packed by 7:30 a.m.

But there were clear rifts between managers from each company, some of whom had to compete against one another for their jobs. Forsee's formal style didn't resonate with former Nextel chief Tim Donahue's casual approach, some employees said.

The company hired consultants and created committees in an unsuccessful attempt to meld the two cultures. By 2006, former employees said, poor morale took its toll, and the parking lots remained empty until mid-morning.

Staff writer Kim Hart contributed to this report.