UPDATE 2-Sprint names Robert Brust finance chief

(Adds Brust compensation details, share price update)

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, on Thursday named Robert Brust its chief financial officer, the latest in several executive changes at the company, which has been losing customers.

Sprint outlined a two-year compensation package of about $6.25 million for Brust, including his salary and bonuses but excluding stock option compensation, with 2008 payments made on a pro rata basis reflecting his May 1 start date.

The news came on the same day that Standard & Poor's downgraded Sprint's credit rating to junk status. Sprint, which forecast deepening customer losses for the first quarter and no improvement in the second quarter, has been losing out to rivals such as AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research).

Sprint said in January that it was searching for a new finance chief after Paul Saleh, who was acting chief executive for part of 2007, left on Jan. 25. The company's controller William Arendt served as acting CFO in the interim.

Brust, 64, most recently served as finance chief of Eastman Kodak Co (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a role he held from 2000 to 2007 when he retired from the company. He was part of the team that planned Kodak's dramatic transformation to a digital photography company but left before the change was completed.

Before Kodak, he worked at Unisys Corp (UIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as CFO after a 31-year stint at General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Brust's compensation package includes a $1 million salary, a short-term incentive plan with a targeted bonus of $1.3 million, should the company meet goals; and a $1.65 million sign-on bonus which would be paid this year and next year.