The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint has been looming over the Kansas City area since the two mobile carriers cut a secret deal in 2013. The deal was finally approved by federal regulators in April, bringing sweeping changes to the lives of thousands of Sprint employees in KC. With news of lay-offs and department cuts coming out, here are some important numbers to know.
7 years
How long this merger has been in the works. The merger between the companies has been in discussion since 2013, according to CNET, but it wasn’t announced until 2018. After two years of battling internally and in court with the state and federal governments—there was a fear that the merger would create less competition in the industry and thus increase prices for customers—the merger was finalized in April.
$26 billion
The amount of money it cost to merge the two companies. T-Mobile bought Sprint for twenty-six billion dollars. The two companies decided to merge to be more competitive with tech giants Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile and Sprint have been consistently ranked the third and fourth best mobile providers behind Verizon and AT&T, according to TechCrunch.
140,300,00
The number of customers that will now be under T-Mobile’s network. As of 2019, Sprint serviced fifty-four million people, and T-Mobile serviced eighty-six million people. Combined, the two companies will now be in charge of coverage for over one hundred million people in the United States.
6,000
The number of Sprint employees in the Kansas City area in 2018. The company refused to disclose the number of employees it had in 2019 and 2020, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. However, the large campus the company owns in Johnson County was sold in 2019, and Sprint is consolidating its buildings on the campus from eleven to four.
20
The number of Sprint stores in the Kansas City area that will be transitioning to T-Mobile stores or shut down, as there are already roughly twenty T-Mobile stores in the area as well. T-Mobile has also committed to keeping the Sprint (now T-Mobile) campus in Johnson County open, as well as keeping the Sprint Center downtown, which will be changed to the T-Mobile Center.
4
The number of senior Sprint executives that made the cut as the companies merged. In total, there are eighteen executive positions in the company, meaning former Sprint executives will make up roughly twenty percent of that team. Former Sprint employees will be the executive vice president of human resources, the executive vice president of integration and transformation, the executive vice president of emerging products and the executive vice president of advanced and emerging technologies, according to the Business Journal.
6 minutes
The length of a Zoom call where hundreds of Sprint sales employees lost their jobs. According to TechCrunch, in a Zoom call in mid-June, T-Mobile Vice President James Kirby told hundreds of Sprint sales employees that they were no longer needed at the company. He declined to answer questions from employees and ended the call. Although the number of people who lost their jobs wasn’t disclosed, nearly four hundred people were on the call. The employees were a part of the Sprint sales unit that focused on helping small businesses, which T-Mobile has cut. Layoffs are not new to Sprint; however, the layoffs come just two months after the merger was completed and after the two companies advertised this merger would create more jobs.