The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Year

3. Failing Upward

You can't hold down Sprint's (S) Gary Forsee.

Sprint has performed poorly since the big telco acquired wireless specialist Nextel. Rivals such as Verizon Wireless and Cingular have been ringing up huge subscriber gains, but Sprint's growth has slowed to a crawl as lucrative users flee. The company has repeatedly missed profit targets this year.

You might expect that if anyone were to take the hit for such a pathetic showing, it would be the CEO. But at Sprint, that has most certainly not been so.

In April, strategy chief Tom Kelly retired. In August, operating chief Len Lauer quit. In October, Chairman Tim Donahue set plans to retire early. Those departures left Forsee more or less alone in the executive suite.

Outmaneuvering his internal rivals isn't enough for Forsee, though. So this month, Sprint decided to promote him, too. Now he's both chairman and CEO.

"As Sprint Nextel moves forward, we are pleased that Gary Forsee will now lead the board," said lead independent Irvine O. Hockaday said Dec. 12. "Sprint Nextel has the assets, brands and strategic direction in place, and we are confident under Gary's leadership that the company's goals will be realized."

It's nice someone feels that way.