Sprint offering buyouts as business deteriorates

NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N), the No. 3 U.S. wireless service, is offering buyouts to employees who do not deal directly with customers, in a bid to reduce costs as its business deteriorates.

Sprint said it was sending letters to an unspecified number of employees in areas like corporate communications, human resources and finance, offering a buyout.

Company spokesman James Fisher said the move was part of efforts to reduce costs, although it was not known how many employees would respond.

"We haven't set a goal. We're just putting out the offer," he said, adding that not all applications would be accepted.

The move comes a week after Sprint reported a third-quarter loss and a 12 percent drop in revenue, as customers fled to rival services. It lost a total of 1.3 million customers in the third quarter.

The company has struggled in the past year to stem customer losses amid service problems, weak marketing and an economic downturn that especially hurt its low-credit customers.

Sprint shares were up 19 percent, or 37 cents, at $2.32 in late Thursday afternoon trade amid a broad market rise. The stock had fallen heavily in recent sessions on the disappointing results. (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Bernard Orr)