Level 3 Communications shares fell 11 percent Monday after it was announced that chief financial officer Sunit Patel will step down after his successor is found.
“As the company focuses on ensuring we take full advantage of the opportunities presented by our marketplace, we believe we need a CFO with skills and experience which emphasize both operational and financial management,” James Crowe, chief executive of the Broomfield-based company, said in a statement.
Level 3, which owns thousands of miles of high-capacity fiber that carries Internet traffic and long-distance phone calls, has recently focused on growing its enterprise, or large business, revenue.
The bulk of the company’s revenue has traditionally come from wholesale customers such as small phone companies that resell the service.
Patel has extensive experience in financial planning and capital raising but very little on the operations side.
He joined Level 3 in March 2003 and was appointed CFO two months later. He previously was co-founder and CFO of Looking Glass Networks, a metro-fiber company Level 3 acquired last year.
In a statement, Patel said he would “carefully consider the opportunities that lie ahead, at Level 3 or elsewhere.”
Level 3 stock dropped 54 cents, closing at $4.36 a share Monday.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
