LightSquared faced another setback today when it announced CEO Sanjiv Ahuja was leaving the company. LightSquared confirmed it’s starting the search for a new CEO and hopes to find a replacement in the near future. In the meantime, Chief Network Officer Doug Smith and Chief Financial Officer Marc Montagner will serve as interim c0-chief operating officers.
Philip Falcone, the CEO and CIO of Harbinger Capital Partners, praised Sanjiv for his work at LightSquared and re-affirmed the company was still committed to its wireless network. Falcone writes, “As the company takes the next step forward, we continue to be excited about the prospects and look forward to working with new leadership to accomplish our goal of building and operating an innovative, competitive wireless network.”
From a layman’s perspective, this change in leadership is not a good sign for LightSquared. The company’s wireless network has been stalled because the FCC claims it will interfere with current GPS technology. To make matters worse, Sprint is ready to pull the plug on the company in mid-March unless it can get FCC approval. Now, its CEO has jumped ship during a time when it needs a strong leadership team the most.
You can read the full statement on LightSquared’s website.