Date: 26th October 2000

Four-Way Party Line At AT&T


AT&T described Wednesday how it plans to split up into four parts: consumer, business, broadband (cable) and wireless.

Several analysts noted that implicit in the announcement was an admission that the company's plans to use its $100-billion acquisition of TV cable companies to provide local telephone services had been a failure.

One analyst, Ken McGee of Gartner Group, told today's (Thursday) Wall Street Journal: "It's hard to escape the feeling that a corporate funeral took place today. ... It's really the end of an icon and no matter how they try to put a positive spin on it, it's the death of corporate giant."

Source: Studio Briefing