naire investor who in December 2003, resigned from the board of Nextel, looms large in the company's history. His involvement with the VAULT CAREER LIBRARY 2005 Vault Inc. Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Nextel Communications company began in 1995, when he sold McCaw Cellular to AT&T for $11.5 billion, and then invested about $1.6 billion in Nextel Communications in exchange for a stake in the company. That infusion of cash helped Nextel take its digital wireless service national. At the time of the investment, Nextel was burdened by debt and by the poor quality of two-way radio equipment purchased from Motorola, losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually and searching for billions to build out service in the cities where it had licenses. McCaw jumped right in, relying in part on Motorola's commitment to improve the system if he became involved. By 1999, Nextel's customer base had more than doubled, its stock was up 600 percent, it was branching out into foreign markets and Microsoft had decided to invest $600 million to develop Nextel Online, an Internet service for Nextel customers. As a result, McCaw and his fellow investors were sitting on a $3.4 billion gain on their investment. In 2001, McCaw advised the company of his plan to exercise options covering an aggregate of 17 million shares of Nextel common stock. Of those 17 million shares, 15 million would be acquired directly from the company for $277.5 million in accordance with the original investment agreement. As part of his original investment, McCaw got the rights to three of the company's 11 board positions as long as his stake remained at least 5 percent. But Nextel shares have been on the rise over the past few years after suffering a post-bubble drop, and McCaw sharply reduced his investment in the wireless service provider. Finally, in December 2003, McCaw announced that he was stepping down from Nextel's board of directors to pursue other opportunities, although he will maintain his 5 percent share in the company. Nextel Partners Nex