Qwest says CFO Richardson is leaving

Qwest Communications chief financial officer and executive vice president John Richardson is resigning from the telco, but will remain at his post until Qwest finds a replacement. The announcement comes as Qwest and other telco face economic uncertainty stemming from landline decline, the housing crisis, overall softness in consumer spending and at least a couple other factors. Qwest's 6.5% drop in access line during the fourth quarter if 2007 was slightly higher than other telcos reported.

Richardson has been with Qwest for five years, but has been CFO for barely a year, moving into the job in March 2007 after previous CFO Oren Shaffer retired. Qwest CEO Edward Mueller has overseen a few executive changes since taking over the telco last summer, but nothing too surprising or extensive.

For more:
- see this Associated Press brief [1] at CNN Money

Related articles:
Industry watchers have mulled the possibility of Verizon acquiring Qwest [2]
Qwest's bottom-line improved [3] recently on operational cost reductions