Neutral Tandem CEO Takes Voluntary Retirement

According to Oppenheimer, Neutral Tandem has announced the voluntary retirement of CEO Rian Wren and a $50 million share buyback

. Oppenheimer reported that the company also filed pro forma financials for Tinet, which on a normalized basis were in line with expectation. “The company has embarked on a difficult (but needed path) of transitioning from voice transit to data interconnections and the change in CEO appears to help this transition. Positively, share repurchases should provide some support and the company has a strong balance sheet. However, there is risk to its core businesses, more so in 2012, from competition and a potential acceleration to voice over Internet calling potentially driven by FCC access reforms.” Neutral Tandem closed yesterday at $17.19.