Thread regarding Crown Castle International Corp. layoffs

you are leaving out his greatest skill to call people id--ts to their faces or incompetent and require everything to be explained that he should know as a cfo and then still not understanding or his face of resting disgust or annoyance, those are his expert skills

Factual clarification for anyone confused: Lumen is CenturyLink renamed, and Level 3 the company CenturyLink acquired along with substantial debt blamed for the downfall of Lumen and a complicated integration is where Sunit Patel was for a decade roughly the CFO managing that. CenturyLink assumed about $10.6B of Level 3 debt, the combination was projected at roughly 3.7× net leverage, and CenturyLink reported $391M of Level 3 integration-related expenses in 2018. Patel wasn’t exactly a random outsider who wandered in afterward, this is his largest body of work, he helped lead Level 3 financially for years and then became CFO of the combined company before leaving about 11 months later. Leverage, financial architecture and integration economics were rather conspicuously within a CFO’s neighborhood. Investor litigation later alleged CenturyLink misrepresented aspects of the integration’s progress, including internal-control issues. So, once again, the fascinating question isn’t what impressive companies appeared on his resume it’s what specific successful outcome was actually attributable to him, this one was the debt and integration economics and the biggest question what exactly Crown’s board saw that made this him irresistible as a candidate to compensate so significantly regardless of outcome past or future.

I questioned Sunit Patel shortly after he arrived when I overheard him take credit for “turning around” Ibotta. Except Ibotta’s Walmart relationship began in 2018, before he arrived CEO Bryan Leach signed the major Walmart agreement in 2021, and Ibotta’s filings even say Walmart’s 2022–23 expansion drove the growth. After hearing that, I started checking the résumé instead of believing the story.

• CenturyLink: CFO for less than a year after it acquired Level 3.
• T-Mobile/Sprint: merger signed five months BEFORE he arrived. He led pre-close integration and left at closing.
• WorldCom: Treasurer during a period containing troubling conduct documented by investigators, although they did not find Patel responsible for the fraud.
• Crown: arrived April 2025; departure announced about 18 months later with his total compensation/award value could approach $18–20M. For what value created?
  That’s the question: What did he actually create versus what happened while he happened to be there?
  Anyone can find this history. Why didn’t our board examine it more critically before making this commitment? How else could that compensation have been invested in the company and its people? And this isn’t just about Sunit. Crown keeps changing leaders, and new leaders naturally bring trusted lieutenants. Hillabrant is clearly building his team, and those leaders will build theirs. Some changes may be necessary and some new leaders may be excellent. But replacing people with more expensive outsiders who arrive announcing how they’ve “done this before” before understanding this company isn’t automatically transformation. So buckle up. I don’t think the changes are over. They may just be called something different next time. And leadership should remember: constant transformation eventually becomes punishment for the people who stayed, remained loyal and kept trying to make the company better kept things running so all the new leaders could come collect their HUGE compensation packages.

New CFO set. Outgoing CFO leaving. Why are we paying for six more months, plus more bonus and equity? End the transition now and move on, save us the millions you’d pay him to call people id--ts which is pretty much all he has done. You want discipline and accountability? Prove it. Start at the top.

$118.28M in SEC-reported compensation through 2025 during the executive-turnover period:

• Jay Brown — $15.21M — 2023–24
• Anthony Melone — $5.66M — 2024
• Steven Moskowitz — $34.66M — $16.44M in 2024 + $18.22M in 2025. His qualifying termination carried $16.07M in disclosed termination-related value.
• Michael Kavanagh — $10.24M — 2023–24
• Edmond Chan — $6.75M — 2024 only; does not include his 2025 compensation through departure or final separation/continued-equity
• Daniel Schlanger — $24.90M — 2023–25
• Sunit Patel — $9.10M — 2025 only; 2026–27 compensation and qualifying-termination benefits still outstanding
• Catherine Piche — $11.76M — 2023–25; 2026–27 compensation and qualifying-termination benefits still outstanding

And it’s still incomplete: Patel/Piche’s 2026–27 compensation and final qualifying-termination benefits for 2026 & 2027 are outstanding. Our current working estimate for Patel/Piche is approximately another $18.5M combined, which would put the working estimate around $136.78M—but their final values have not yet been reported.

And remember: this is only the executives who exited or are exiting. It does not include the compensation of executives who remained, or the VP/Director turnover beneath EMT who received significant compensation.

The Seven departing EMT leaders alone account for roughly ≈ $118.28 MILLION
based on the SEC filing reported compensation & packages for 2023–2025 alone, Moskowitz was $16.067M alone, CEO April 11, 2024 and ceased being CEO March 23, 2025 less than a year! Accountability stopped below the executive floor.

And $118.28 MILLION isn’t the finished number, SP & CP are still running up our ledger for 2026-2027… which is estimated to add $18.5M more during 2026 through separation with one allegedly negotiated staying to secure more contract payouts which should be blocked.

They made that much? Never pi-s off accounting they got the numbers and will always find you

@fx SP was terrible but not really a mystery hire. He was one of Elliots 2 seats.

The ROI question, hard to perfect but we know what comp costs were, public filings show that but not what their decisions and lost business cost. Both departing executives are being treated as “qualifying terminations,” means severance and continued equity vesting come with their exits.

• CFO: roughly $19–21M+ estimated compensation and separation value through his departure/post-employment vesting March April 2025 until exit.
• COO: roughly $15M estimated compensation and separation value since returning end of October 2024.

Combined: ~$35M for just them before calculating the cost of the decisions made under them.

The new CEO hit his one-year anniversary this week with an estimated $5M earned/vested so far, with $13.5M in target annual compensation going forward.

Nothing is secret, all executive compensation is public record with the filings. If we calculate their sunk costs, that’s where this gets HUGE!

@dm have a treasure hunt with the MCI Worldcom tenure position and reports, the Lumen exit is nothing. Put out to pasture time was long overdue since 2000.

@hh I’d love to see someone actually run the numbers. How much did we really “save” by cutting people who were doing the work versus what we spent on SP, CP, their inner circle of professional yes-people, and an army of consultants solving problems we didn’t need solved? And remember: people in Tower, Finance and IT didn’t make many of those decisions they were directed to execute them* even when they knew they were wasteful or bad ideas. Then somehow the people executing the strategy paid the price for the strategy. Not everyone who was cut was a superstar, obviously, but a lot of talented, hardworking people lost jobs and financial security while the people making the expensive decisions walked away with millions for their mistakes we all paid for. How much is their “retirement” package going to be? Makes me miss the days people asked about pet insurance for darn sure. That’s the ROI analysis I’d actually like to see.

The best part of CP going is hopefully her favorites will follow her out. The VP level has been the only one not touched by the layoffs and churn over the last 4 years and that's the level most directly making everything so horrid.
Fingers crossed FS is the first one out the door after her!

CP hurt growth and relationships because she let ambition and bitterness cloud the bigger picture. She wanted a role, didn’t get it, and ultimately allowed that disappointment to affect the bottom line. SP? Mystery hire. Ego, volatile reactions, horrid communication, couldn’t listen and the number of screenshots capturing his disinterest and annoyance on Teams calls is epic. That stare could deliver a thousand negative words without saying one. Whoever voted “yes” either failed at research and validation or never actually met him. Now it’s time to recover, rebuild and regroup stronger. Positive culture and strong performance can coexist we just have to stop tolerating the opposite.
Way overdue.

@dc you should know who these ppl are if you work for crown

Finally CP is gone. It was a mistake evne bringing her back after she was fired the first time. Things actual might be looking up for you guys

@dm No clue. He brought no value and a lot of ego, without the track record to support either. Negative, condescending, and somehow latched onto the one person they were already trying to get rid of that no one trusted day 1. This should be a case study in why you vet candidates instead of panic-hiring them. What’s his countdown? Maybe they’ll buy us cake because it’s a milestone moment and we need it!

SP Got fired from Lumen also. Why do companies continue to hire this clown.

What’s the deal with using intials when referring to people?

SP and CP? About damn time. KH is actually smart, so for once this feels like genuinely good news for the bottom line. First solid decision in years. Now keep the momentum going and pack the P's up and out faster, how much did they cost us as they did nothing except wreak havoc especially SP? Remember his first big move, to undo the letting go of a consultant magician who did absolutely nothing and knew even less that she did, except buzz words and how to manage up contributing no value. After that brilliant move, he kept his bad decision pattern going strong and we won't miss his epic faces on calls of pure annoyance and disgust with people in general. Bye Felica

1 = SP, 2 = CP who’s 3?

Eighteen months is a “retirement” now? Not enough time for an anniversary or gold plaque buddy and the more interesting question is what happened during those 18 months — stock performance, layoffs, reorganizations, leadership turnover and shareholder value. And for anyone who remembers the WorldCom years, watching the stock chart probably creates a little déjà vu.Coincidence for this guy, reliving those glory days at our expense? But “retirement” is a stretch and some. Just say it, bad hire.