Dan Schlanger, CFO of Crown Castle (CCI), will leave the company in March 2024. The company is conducting a search that will include both internal and external candidates.

CCI owns and operates 40,000 large cell towers, 120,000 small cells and 85,000 miles of fiber. The company has revenues of around $7 billion, 90% of which comes from the rental of its infrastructure.

Back in July, the company announced it would cut headcount by 15% and close a number of regional offices. CCI has been suffering a downtown as the mobile operators complete their 5G rollout. The T-Mobile takeover of Sprint badly affected the company. This will reduce tower revenues by $200 million a year from 2025.

Mr. Schlanger was appointed the CFO in June 2016. Prior to joining CCI, he spent 9 years at Exterran, another Houston company. He has also worked for Merrill Lynch as an investment banker.

He will receive severance in accordance with the agreement he signed when he joined the company. That amounts to $1.4 million (1x base salary, $620k, 1x annual bonus, $620k plus pro-rata bonus for 2024, $155k).

In addition, any restricted stock units would also vest. According to the most recent proxy statement, these were valued at $1.6 million. That was assuming a stock price of $135 (the price at December 31, 2022). The current stock price of CCI is $90.

Mr. Schlanger is the second senior executive to depart in recent months. Back in August, Cathy Piche, Chief Operating Officer – Towers, resigned to take a position at Phoenix Tower International, a smaller competitor to CCI.

SEC filing – CCI CFO departure