BellSouth seeks to block Forsee’s sprint to Sprint

BellSouth has obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent Gary Forsee, the carrier’s vice chairman of domestic operations, from becoming Sprint’s chief executive officer. Sprint confirmed that Forsee, considered the second in command to BellSouth Chairman and CEO Duane Ackerman, was offered the position late last week.

A Sprint spokeswoman said a court hearing would be held in the next few days, but was unable to comment on the argument Sprint would present. In the meantime, the company said Chairman and CEO William Esrey and President and COO Ron LeMay would continue in their current positions.

The Sprint spokeswoman said the company isn’t sure what would happen should BellSouth be granted a permanent injunction that would prevent Forsee from taking the job at Sprint. “That’s still yet to be determined. We’ll have to wait until we get there to figure out what’s going to happen,” said the spokeswoman.

It had been expected that Esrey, who is battling lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, would cede his CEO post to Forsee but remain as chairman, at least for a transitional period. Less certain is the fate of LeMay, who had been expected to succeed Esrey one day. When asked whether LeMay is planning to leave the company now that it has been revealed that Sprint had looked outside for Esrey’s replacement, the spokeswoman said, “At this point, the only thing that we can say is that he is still in his post. I don’t think that has been determined at this point. Right now, he is still working at the company and in his position.”

Forsee had worked at Sprint for about a decade before joining BellSouth in 1999. While at Sprint, Forsee eventually ascended to president and CEO of the carrier’s long-distance division before becoming president and CEO of Global One, the joint venture between Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, in February 1998.

Calls to BellSouth seeking comment were not immediately returned.