 planning to leave the company. The reports were quickly followed by the news that COO Ronald LeMay would also be departing and that top BellSouth executive Gary Forsee would take over the reins as CEO. In a move of swift defiance, BellSouth obtained a restraining order forbidding Forsee to take the job. In a press release Sprint claimed that Esrey and LeMay would remain with the company while it "evaluated alternatives." After a court ruling in its favor, Sprint presented Forsee with the chief executive title. LeMay resigned from the COO post and Esrey's duties were handled by Forsee. Slimming into shape Continuing to cut costs, Sprint kept trimming its employee numbers throughout 2003. As of the summer of 2004, the company employs about 65,000 people, which means its employment rolls have declined by almost 20,000 in the past four years. Some of 134 VAULT LIBRARY CAREER 2005 Vault Inc. Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Sprint Corporation the decrease in employees can be attributed to its reorganization: Sprint has also slimmed down its business areas with the sale of Sprint Publishing & Advertising to R.H. Donnelley and parted with its managed hosting operations. Additionally, Sprint announced in February 2004 that it is outsourcing its customer service operations to IBM. Sprint hopes that the deal will save the company more than $500 million over the next three years. The company's 2004 second quarter results indicated that Sprint's aggressive restructuring and reduction moves are paying off. Net operating revenue was up 6 percent and both its new segments, business and consumer, reported sequential growth. Sprint attributes the improvement to its wireless business and, to a lesser degree, local phone services. The next quarter didn't go quite as smoothly, though. Sprint announced in October 2004 that it was taking a $3.5 billion charge to write off part of its long-distance business. The charge resulted in the company reporting a third quarter loss of $1.9 billion. Interestingly enough, competitor MCI 