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The Street
The Street
Jeffrey Quiggle

Teledoc, Netflix, Peloton Should Call This Free Agent CEO

John Legere, who served as T-Mobile (TMUS) CEO from 2012 to 2020, is well known for rescuing his mobile phone company as it struggled to compete with Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T).

Legere left T-Mobile on the same day he completed the company's purchase of Sprint. Plenty of troubled companies could use his talent now, but one CEO has told him his services weren't needed.

For example, Twitter has famously endured a rough few months since it was purchased by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. 

Musk on April 5 purchased 9% of Twitter's shares. He then was offered a seat on the company's board but turned down the offer. Instead, he said he would simply buy the company for $44 billion.

Twitter accepted the offer on April 25. After this development, on May 13, Musk put the bid on hold. This move put the entire transaction in jeopardy and was only the beginning of the company's chaos to come.

The next few months seemed to be moving toward an October trial that would settle the dispute. A judge gave the two sides until the end of the month to put a deal together.

The parties completed the purchase on Oct. 27 for the amount of the original Musk offer.

The next day, Musk fired Twitter's CEO, CFO and other executives. Then came the workforce reduction layoffs. Some 3,700 people were let go, or about half of the company's employees.

Musk then offered Twitter employees an ultimatum on Nov. 16. He sent an email to all employees that said they would be required to work long, hardcore hours and that they must consent to these conditions. If they did not, they would lose their jobs. More than a thousand of them left.

Twitter was never to be the same again. Controversies erupted, including the microblogging site's decision to charge for Twitter Blue, restoring former President Donald Trump's account, advertising difficulties and claims by Musk that Apple was threatening to remove Twitter's app from its App Store.

Legere Offers to Help Twitter out

During all the late fall craziness, Legere had a public discussion with Elon Musk using Twitter posts on Nov. 13. That's when he said in a tweet that he would work for Twitter if offered a job.

"You can stop managing daily business, and 'content moderation' and then support product/technology. Let someone else 'run' Twitter," Legere wrote.

He continued. "I’m expensive but so is what you paid for Twitter. (p.s. please be leadership example of how to tweet.")

Musk brushed him aside, writing simply, "No."

These things being considered, Legere is apparently interested in a new opportunity, and he has some options on where he could go next.

So Where Should Legere Land?

A few companies come to mind.

Legere has some options if he wants to pursue them. The companies that might benefit from his talents could be these ones.

Netflix (NFLX): Netflix stock is down 47% for the year. The downturn is widely understood to be the result of investor worries about competition in the streaming space.

Peloton (PTON): This stock, having suffered some public relations damage this year, began trading in January at $35.20. It is now valued at $12.92. This might be a place where Legere could look to simulate his fortunes much like he was able to do during his tenure at T-Mobile.

Teledoc Health (TDOC): This company has experienced a rise and fall during the past few years. The pandemic gave it a boost as patients sought medical help over the phone. But its stock is down 73% during the past year. It could use some creative energy to get it back into shape.

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