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 NormanSPremium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
kudos:9
 ·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to WhatNow
Re: Tarnished Name said by WhatNow:This is correct info that few people know. Several other big companies were in the same boat but won their cases. The AT&T name was bought by the baby bell SBC for PR reasons after AT&T went bankrupt.
I am trying to find the bankruptcy filing for AT&T. It appears that AT&T took a hit when Worldcom filed for bankruptcy, but ...
It seems that Cingular Wireless, the joint SBC-Bellsouth venture, bought the "AWEful" AT&T TDMA network, but AT&T had retained the right to the "AT&T Wireless" name. This put Cingular in a poor competitive position.
I suppose "PR" is the short of it. But SBC re-branded as AT&T, then bought Bellsouth on the heels of the AT&T buyout. I'd guess that then SBC CEO, Ed Whitacre, wanted the whole shebang: 100% control of Cingular (SBC-Bellsouth merger) and the AT&T Wireless brand.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum | |
| said by NormanS:said by WhatNow:This is correct info that few people know. Several other big companies were in the same boat but won their cases. The AT&T name was bought by the baby bell SBC for PR reasons after AT&T went bankrupt.
I am trying to find the bankruptcy filing for AT&T. It appears that AT&T took a hit when Worldcom filed for bankruptcy, but ... I don't think you'll find one. I don't recall AT&T ever filing for bankruptcy. They were getting close, tho.
said by NormanS:I suppose "PR" is the short of it. My take has always been SBC figured to kill two birds with one stone: Lose the bad image they had and gain the cachet of being "AT&T."
And it worked, after a fashion. Many, perhaps most, non-TelCom people I talked to thought AT&T had bought SBC, et al. Of course, eventually people figured it out, because SBC didn't actually change anything except their name.
said by NormanS:But SBC re-branded as AT&T, then bought Bellsouth on the heels of the AT&T buyout.
Close. SBC re-branded itself as "AT&T," then bought-out BellSouth's share of Cingular and renamed it "AT&T Wireless," then borged BellSouth.
Jim | |
NormanSPremium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
kudos:9 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| I still encounter people who think that AT&T bought SBC. And SBC was probably the worst of the "Baby Bells" ... except for the Pacific Telesis Group.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum | |
|
