Timing of Crown Castle’s CEO transition ‘particularly unusual,’ says KeyBanc

KeyBanc notes that in a filing on Monday, Overweight-rated Crown Castle (CCI) disclosed that Steven Moskowitz, President and CEO, has been terminated; Dan Schlanger, EVP and CFO, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately. The firm says it is confused as Moskowitz was hired less than a year ago, the company just announced a major strategic change with the Fiber sale, and it has a new CFO coming in. The timing here is “particularly unusual,” KeyBanc adds. Given the company stated that the termination was “not made for cause or related to ethical or compliance concern,” the firm’s only thought is that there is a fairly immediate replacement that the board views as superior. Given the recent appointment of Sunit Patel as CFO, KeyBanc thinks the replacement candidate could be Bradley Singer. The press release stated that the board has initiated a search for a successor, which would suggest this theory may not be right, the firm acknowledges.