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Transcript of Company Perspectives
Company Perspectives:
MCI WorldCom is a new kind of communications company. With revenue of
more than $30 billion, MCI WorldCom combines financial strength and a
depth of resources to pursue the industry's best growth opportunities with
an advanced global network built for the data-intensive era of
communications.
History of MCI WorldCom, Inc.
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MCI WorldCom, Inc. is one of the largest telecommunications companies in
the world. Formed on September 15, 1998, from the $37 billion merger of
MCI Communications Corporation and WorldCom, Inc., the company's
operations are organized around three divisions: MCI WorldCom, U.S.
telecommunications; UUNET WorldCom, Internet and technology services;
and WorldCom International. The MCI WorldCom division is the second
largest long distance company in the United States (after AT&T), with a
45,000-mile nationwide fiber optic network, that provides local phone
service in more than 100 markets and offers data, Internet, and other
communications services. UUNET WorldCom maintains a highly reliable
backbone network that provides local access to the Internet from more than
1,000 locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific
region, in addition to a wide range of other Internet services. WorldCom
International is a local, facilities-based competitor in 15 countries outside
the United States, connecting to the company's overall global network more
than 5,000 buildings in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Ireland,
Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Singapore,
Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Before the 1998 merger MCI Communications, founded in 1968, was well
known as the company that led the charge in introducing competition in the
telecommunications industry and precipitated the breakup of AT&T's Bell
System. Following the breakup, MCI quickly became a multibillion-dollar
global enterprise. WorldCom began as a reseller of long distance services in
1983 before emerging as the fourth largest long distance provider and a
full-service telecommunications powerhouse in the mid-1990s. WorldCom's
growth was aided by a series of major acquisitions, including Resurgens
Communications Group, Inc. and Metromedia Communications Corporation
(1993); IDB Communications Group, Inc. (1994); WilTel Network Services
(1995); MFS Communications Company, Inc. and UUNET Technologies, Inc.
(1996); and Brooks Fiber Properties, Inc., CompuServe Corporation's data
network, and America Online Inc.'s network services subsidiary (all in
1998).
MCI's History Began with 1963 FCC Application
Founded in 1968 as Microwave Communications, Inc. (MCI) by John
Goeken, owner of a mobile radio business, MCI's regulatory history began
in 1963, when Goeken filed an application with the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) for permission to construct a private line microwave
radio system between Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri. Goeken proposed to
erect a series of microwave towers between the two cities that would carry
calls on a microwave beam. AT&T actually had developed the technology
and used microwaves on many of its long distance routes. Unlike the Bell
System, which had to expend enormous sums to maintain and operate the
basic wire-and-cable network, however, Goeken proposed to offer a much
cheaper alternative by employing microwave technology exclusively. As
Fortune, April 1970, noted, Goeken contended that he would provide a
service not offered by any of the existing telephone companies: "... wider
choice of bandwidths, greater speed, greater flexibility ... and prices as
much as 94 percent cheaper than A.T.&T.'s." In addition to carrying voice
transmissions, the company stated that its greatest appeal would be to
those who wanted to send data or a combination of data and voice
messages.
Goeken's application set the stage for one of the great corporate battles in
U.S. history by challenging the prevailing public service principle that had
been developed and applied to telephony during the 19th and 20th
centuries. The public service principle derived from the philosophy that
universal availability of telephone service could be achieved only through
one independent and interconnecting network. It was believed by those who
built the system and those who came to regulate it that the communications
industry was a natural monopoly, in which quality and service were best
achieved through one integrated system rather than through the play of
competing interests. At the time when Goeken filed his application, AT&T
saw him as a small but important threat to its position as the nation's basic
provider of phone services.
In 1964 several corporations, including AT&T, its Illinois Bell subsidiary,
Western Union, and GTE's Illinois-based subsidiary, petitioned the FCC to
deny Goeken's application. The corporations argued that Goeken's proposed
service would be redundant. More important, AT&T charged that Goeken's
service would skim the most profitable segment of the communications
market at the expense of universal service provided by Bell. AT&T
depended on charging high rates for some of its intercity services--such as
private line, WATS, and regular long distance&mdashø subsidize the vast
expense of constructing and maintaining the nation's communications
network. AT&T also used the revenue derived from these services to
subsidize the price of local service, making the cost of basic phone service
affordable to the average customer. If Goeken and others were allowed to
compete openly in the market, this delicate system of rate averaging would
be disrupted. Although it was in the interest of AT&T and the others to stall
proceedings as long as possible in the hope that Goeken would not pursue
his plan, most of the delays stemmed from Goeken himself. Filing
deficiencies caused endless delays.
The seeds of change in the regulatory climate were sown in the revolution
of new technologies that arose during and after World War II. Rapid
technological advances in the fields of microwave relay, satellites,
computers, and coaxial cable, in addition to other technologies such as
mobile radio, recording devices, and answering machines, gave rise to a
number of small, aggressive firms seeking to enter the telecommunications
field. As these firms, armed with the new technologies, demanded
increasingly more access to the telecommunications market, the FCC was
compelled to respond. In a string of rulings, the FCC first in 1956 decided
that under certain conditions non-Bell terminal equipment could be
attached to the Bell System network. In 1959 the FCC permitted firms to
operate private microwave communications systems for internal use.
With these two decisions, the FCC paved the way for entry of competitive
firms into certain markets. The FCC completely opened the terminal
equipment market in 1968. Almost immediately dozens of small firms
entered the market seeking to sell equipment in competition with Bell
products.
In this changing regulatory climate of the early 1960s, Goeken arrived on
the scene proposing a supplemental service that he claimed was not being
provided by any company. Goeken claimed that he was seeking only a
peripheral submarket much too small to disrupt AT&T's system of rate
averaging. AT&T, however, opposed the entry, claiming that the ostensibly
new and innovative service was merely a variation of a service already
offered.
McGowan Arrived at MCI in 1968
In 1968, as the FCC was considering the newly incorporated MCI's
application, the fortunes of the small company took a dramatic turn when
William McGowan joined the company as chairman and chief executive
officer. McGowan saw promise in the company, put his money behind it, and
soon devised a strategy that would lead MCI to phenomenal success. When
McGowan joined the firm, MCI's major asset was a five-year-old application
to provide point-to-point private-line service by microwave between Chicago
and St. Louis.
Almost immediately, McGowan set up a new company, Microwave
Communications of America, to attract private investors to finance MCI-
affiliated companies around the country. At the same time the company
announced plans for an 11,000-mile system that would run through 40
states and be operated by 16 affiliates. Most important, McGowan began to
orchestrate a legal-political strategy that would serve MCI extraordinarily
well in later years when the company lobbied the FCC and Congress to
grant its license.
On August 13, 1969, in a four-to-three decision, the FCC authorized MCI's
Chicago-St. Louis application. The decision also assured MCI that it could
interconnect with the Bell System network to enable MCI to provide its
proposed services. Instead of settling the AT&T-MCI dispute, however, the
FCC's MCI decision set the stage for a major battle over
telecommunications policy as a result of the commission's failure to
delineate clearly the boundaries of competition. The market threatened by
MCI's entry was considerably larger than the market opened by the FCC's
1959 decision, which had allowed individual firms to set up their own in-
house microwave communications systems. AT&T repeatedly charged that
MCI would not be providing any new technologies or services but only
would be skimming the most profitable routes, which AT&T needed to
support unprofitable rural routes and basic local phone service.
It was clear to McGowan that to build MCI into a major national
telecommunications network, AT&T's monopoly would have to be
dismantled. McGowan launched a three-pronged offensive, lobbying
Congress, the FCC, and the courts. The company hired Kenneth Cox in 1971
as a senior vice-president who was assigned to lobby the FCC. Cox was a
former FCC commissioner who had voted for approval of MCI's application
in 1969.
AT&T responded aggressively to the FCC's MCI decision and was joined by
Western Union and GTE in petitioning the FCC to reconsider MCI's
application. Since other firms were then seeking entry to provide similar
microwave private-line services, the companies argued that MCI could no
longer be considered an isolated experiment and that increased competition
would lead to higher prices, interfere with universal service, and undermine
the basic system of rate averaging. MCI countered that these concerns were
unfounded. The FCC denied the petitions, and in 1971 MCI received final
approval to build its Chicago-St. Louis route.
Ultimately the 1971 FCC decision led to open entry into the private-line
market. The FCC's 1971 deregulatory move, however, was narrow in scope
and intent, designed to open only a specialized segment of the market. It
was not the initial intention of the FCC to encourage full-scale competition
with AT&T. The goal was to allow other firms to provide services not
available from AT&T.
Verged on Collapse in Early 1970s
On June 22, 1972, MCI issued public stock, raising more than $100 million,
and, assisted by a $72 million line of bank credit, it began construction of
the Chicago-St. Louis route. The company also laid plans for its national
microwave network that would run from coast to coast. MCI soon ran into
trouble with AT&T, however, over the issue of interconnection with Bell's
basic phone network. The FCC ruling had assured MCI that it could use
Bell's local phone network to provide its service, but it did not stipulate at
what cost or how quickly AT&T should install MCI's lines. At the same time
AT&T announced that it was instituting a new pricing system called HI/LOW
to compete directly with MCI and others on private line routes. By 1973
MCI was in financial trouble. Just months away from opening its nationwide
microwave network, the company defaulted on its line of bank credit and
was on the verge of collapse. Also in 1973 Microwave Communications, Inc.
reorganized as MCI Communications Corporation.
Because the FCC's rulings--especially the decision on MCI--had spawned
such competition, the commission had a political stake in MCI's success.
McGowan understood the FCC's commitment to the survival of competition.
To ensure MCI's preservation he worked quickly to enter the more
profitable markets, capitalizing on the FCC's support. In the fall of 1973,
McGowan, badly in need of cash, urged the FCC to authorize MCI to
enlarge its services to include FX lines. Such lines connect a single
customer in one city to another city, in which any number can be reached.
The service, however, required the use of Bell's switched network, which
AT&T saw as a violation of the intent of previous FCC rulings. In the
protracted legal battle that ensued, MCI won a major victory that served as
a prelude to the company becoming a full-scale long distance competitor of
AT&T.
In 1973 MCI also began lobbying the antitrust division of the Justice
Department to file a suit against AT&T to break apart the Bell System. On
March 6, 1974, MCI filed a civil antitrust suit of its own, seeking damages
from AT&T. Shortly thereafter, the Justice Department filed an antitrust
case against AT&T to break up the Bell System.
Execunet Saved MCI, Led to Long Distance Competition in the Late
1970s
Even though MCI had succeeded in enlarging its markets by winning
approval to provide FX services, the company had yet to make a profit.
Between March 1973 and March 1975, the company lost working capital at
the rate of $1 million a month. It needed new markets and, in a risky
gamble, began to offer Execunet, a service nearly identical to AT&T's
regular, very profitable long distance service. If the company was successful
it could become a wealthy corporation, but if it failed, MCI faced the
possibility of bankruptcy.
In 1975 V. Orville Wright joined MCI. Wright soon became president. Also
in 1975, AT&T protested to the FCC that by providing Execunet, MCI had
flagrantly exceeded its mandate. The FCC concurred, and MCI was directed
to cease providing Execunet service. MCI won an appeal, and in 1978 the
Supreme Court refused to review the appeal court's ruling that overturned
the FCC ban on Execunet and ordered Bell to offer interconnection service
to MCI. The breakthrough Execunet victory saved MCI from possible
financial collapse. The company, in opposition to both AT&T and the FCC,
had won the right to provide long distance service. In effect, MCI had
cracked the Bell System monopoly. MCI soon began offering its long
distance service to residential as well as business customers; in March 1980
MCI became the first AT&T competitor in the residential market when it
launched residential service in Denver. As a full-scale competitor in the
lucrative long distance market, MCI saw its revenues increase sharply. By
1981 MCI's annual revenues approached $1 billion. The Execunet victory
also opened the long distance market to other small firms. Few, however,
could afford to expend the enormous sums needed to build and maintain
their own network facilities.
1984 Bell System Breakup Led to Difficulties
By the early 1980s it was clear that the government was winning its
antitrust suit against AT&T. On January 8, 1982, the Justice Department
and AT&T announced agreement in the seven-year-old case, providing for
the divestiture of the 22 wholly owned local Bell operating companies.
MCI's successful crusade for deregulation and divestiture, however, placed
the company under financial strain in the immediate aftermath of the Bell
System's breakup in 1984. AT&T, responding to the competitive inroads
made by MCI and others, began reducing its rates drastically. MCI's profit
margins collapsed as it was compelled to reduce rates. Higher access
charges also squeezed the company. In 1985 MCI's stock plunged from
more than $20 per share to under $7 per share, and in 1986 the company,
despite having the second largest share of the long distance market, posted
a loss of $448.4 million. From the beginning, MCI's profits derived not from
superior technology or innovative processes, but from its cost advantage
over AT&T, which it passed on to customers. Once the local Bell operating
companies were divested, MCI's artificial cost advantage disappeared.
In 1985 MCI was awarded a disappointing $113.3 million in its civil
antitrust suit against AT&T. Also in 1985, in need of capital to expand MCI's
national network and to finance an aggressive marketing campaign to win
new long distance customers, McGowan struck a deal with IBM, which
bought 18 percent of MCI for cash with the option to expand its holdings
later up to 30 percent.
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McGowan continued to argue the need to regulate AT&T for several years
before open competition could be considered viable. Whereas McGowan had
led the charge for deregulation throughout the 1970s, he now argued that
only vigorous regulation could guarantee that MCI and other competitors
would be able to compete effectively with AT&T. The following year, MCI
called for the removal of all remaining regulatory restraints. The odd
alliance was created by the companies' shared perception that deregulation
would enable both to improve their financial outlook by increasing rates.
The two companies also had a shared interest in opposing proposals
advanced by the FCC and the Justice Department to relax regulation of the
former Bell operating companies, which had become competitors of MCI
and AT&T.
MCI was involved early on in what would later be dubbed the Internet. In
September 1983 the company launched MCI Mail, a new nationwide e-mail
system. Five years later the National Science Foundation Network
(NSFNet) was launched; constructed by MCI, this ultra-high-speed digital
network linked a number of academic computer centers and became the
"backbone" of the Internet. Meantime, in 1985 V. Orville Wright retired as
president of MCI, but continued to serve as vice-chairman until 1990. He
was replaced as president by Bert C. Roberts Jr.
By the early 1990s MCI had weathered the wake of AT&T's divestiture and
had expanded rapidly into providing a wide range of domestic and
international voice and data communications services. The company's
communications services included domestic and international long distance
telephone service, international record communications services between
the United States and more than 200 countries, and a domestic and
international time-sensitive electronic mail service. Long distance telephone
service accounted for 90 percent of MCI's total revenues in 1989. The
company had bolstered its position in domestic and international markets
through a series of investments, including acquisition of Satellite Business
Systems, RCA Global Communications, Inc., and certain assets and
contracts of Western Union's Advanced Transmission Systems division. In
1990 MCI also purchased a 25 percent interest in INFONET Services
Corporation, a provider of international data services, and acquired for
$1.25 billion Telecom*USA, then the nation's fourth largest long distance
company. With the acquisitions, MCI had approximately a 16 percent share
of the domestic long distance market.
MCI's Friends & Family Program Launched in 1991
In March 1991 the company announced that it had acquired Overseas
Telecommunications, Inc., provider of international digital satellite services
to 27 countries worldwide. That same month, one of the key events in later
company history occurred--the launching of the Friends & Family marketing
program, which offered 20 percent discounts to groups of MCI customers
with members who phone each other. AT&T had been finding success
winning back MCI customers through follow-up calls and an aggressive
advertising blitz. Consequently, in the second half of 1990 MCI market
share dropped to 13 percent. Friends & Family helped MCI attract seven
million new customers, pushing its market share to 20 percent by the end of
1993.
In December 1991, the same month that MCI completed the conversion of
its entire nationwide network from analog to digital transmission, president
and COO Roberts was named to the additional post of CEO, with McGowan
remaining chairman. McGowan, a heart transplant recipient in 1987, died of
a heart attack the following June, at the age of 64. Roberts was named to
succeed him as chairman, retaining the CEO post as well.
MCI Diversified Under Roberts in the Mid-1990s
While the company focused almost exclusively on the long distance market
when McGowan was in charge, MCI under Roberts's leadership began
diversifying in anticipation of both the further deregulation of the U.S.
telecommunications market and the predicted convergence of
telecommunications, computers, and entertainment. In September 1992
MCI entered into an alliance with Canadian long distance firm Stentor to
create the first fully integrated digital network linking the United States
and Canada. MCI introduced 1-800-COLLECT in May 1993, the first collect
calling service of its kind.
In June 1993 MCI and British Telecommunications plc (BT) announced that
they would form a worldwide alliance to provide advanced global network
services. Following regulatory approval in mid-1994, BT purchased a 20
percent stake in MCI for $4.3 billion. MCI and BT set up a joint venture
called Concert Communications Company, which was 75 percent owned by
BT and 25 percent owned by MCI. Concert offered worldwide voice and
data services to multinational corporations.
In January 1994 MCI formed MCImetro, entered the long distance market in
Mexico, and unveiled networkMCI. Through MCImetro MCI planned to
build a $2 billion fiber optic phone network, bypassing local phone
companies and offering alternative local service. By 1995 the company had
received regulatory approval as a competitive local carrier in 15 states. The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 (signed into law in February 1996) opened
up competition even more, allowing local phone and long distance
companies to compete in each other's markets and providing additional
opportunities for MCImetro. In Mexico, MCI formed an alliance with
banking group Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival (Banacci) to form
Avantel, a joint venture to provide competitive long distance service in
Mexico. In September 1995 Avantel began construction of Mexico's first all-
digital fiber optic network. After completion of the 3,400-mile network,
Avantel in August 1996 became the first company to provide alternative
long distance service in Mexico. By July 1997 the new venture had captured
about ten percent of the $4 billion long distance market in that country.
NetworkMCI, meantime, was a software package aimed at small and
medium-sized businesses that bundled e-mail, fax, paging, document
sharing, Internet access, and videoconferencing.
MCI invested $1 billion for a ten percent stake in The News Corporation
Limited in August 1995. The two companies subsequently announced that
they would develop a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) system in the United
States, purchasing one of only three DBS licenses in 1996. News
Corporation and MCI then set up American Sky Broadcasting (ASkyB), a
joint venture aiming to provide digital satellite services to homes and
businesses by late 1997.
In September 1995 MCI entered the cellular phone market by paying about
$210 million for Nationwide Cellular Service, Inc., the largest independent
reseller of cellular services. Over the next few months MCI expanded
Nationwide through additional contracts to resell service, so that the
company was able to offer service to 75 percent of the U.S. population by
early 1996. MCI thereby had quickly gained a significant presence in this
fast-growing telecom sector without having to invest billions of dollars
developing a wireless infrastructure. In November 1995 MCI paid $1.13
billion to acquire Canadian firm SHL Systemhouse Inc., a leading systems
integration and outsourcing company, providing information technology
services to commercial and governmental enterprises. The following April
MCI introduced MCI One, a service providing consumers and small business
owners a single source for a full range of communications needs, including
long distance, cellular, paging, Internet access and e-mail, calling card, and
a personal "One Number" with intelligent routing.
During 1996 Gerald H. Taylor was named CEO, with Roberts retaining the
chairmanship. That November MCI and BT entered into a $24 million
merger agreement to create a global communications power called Concert
plc. As the merger moved through the process of clearing regulatory
hurdles on both sides of the Atlantic, MCI announced in July 1997 that its
start-up local telephone operation would lose nearly $800 million in 1997,
about twice what BT had expected. BT, concluding that MCI was worth less
than it originally thought, forced MCI to renegotiate the merger agreement.
The companies announced in August that BT would pay $19 million to
acquire the 80 percent of MCI it did not already own, a 22 percent
reduction from the previous deal. This opened the door, however, to other,
unsolicited bidders. WorldCom came forward on October 1 with a $30
billion stock swap bid for MCI, a company more than three times its size.
Two weeks later, GTE Corporation stepped into the fray with an all-cash
offer of $28 billion. On November 10 MCI accepted a sweetened takeover
offer from WorldCom, amounting to a $37 billion stock swap.
WorldCom Began as LDDS in 1983
WorldCom's history began with that of Long Distance Discount Services,
Inc. (LDDS), which was formed in 1983 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, when
the breakup of AT&T enabled thousands of competitors to start reselling
long distance telephone service to individual and business customers. Bill
Fields convinced several investors to lease a local Bell System Wide-Area
Telecommunications Service (WATS) line and resell time on the line to
businesses. Long distance resellers like LDDS bought time from regional
Bell companies in volume and sold it, often at a discount, to business
customers. LDDS owned the switches, or nodes, of its network and leased
the lines from local providers. The sophisticated long distance technology
was designed to handle a high volume of calls. Some observers compared
the long distance telephone industry with the airline industry: there was a
fixed cost for getting calls or seats from one place to another, and the more
customers a telecommunications company or airline had, the lower its costs
would be. Price competition among these companies was ruthless.
Assuming that the "Baby Bells" would continue to lease the lines at a fixed
rate, Fields signed up 200 customers. But when Bell started raising the
charges for the use of the lines, LDDS began to lose money.
By the early months of 1985 the fledgling business was losing $25,000 each
month. It became clear to Fields that he was failing at the day-to-day
management of LDDS, and he first tried to sell the company. Later in 1985
several owners signed LDDS over to Bernard Ebbers, one of the initial
investors. By the time Ebbers became president and chief executive officer,
LDDS was $1.5 million in debt.
Ebbers was a Canadian who came to the United States on a basketball
scholarship to Mississippi College. After graduation he became a high
school baseball coach. He later worked in the garment trade as a
distributor, but lost interest in the low-margin industry. Ebbers seized the
chance to buy a 40-room motel in Columbia, Mississippi, in the 1970s,
borrowing the necessary money to establish himself in the business. In the
real estate market of the late 1970s, the value of prime properties could
double over the course of five years. Ebbers parlayed his one hotel into 12
by the early 1980s, garnering healthy operating and asset gains.
As head of LDDS, Ebbers worked to control costs. He kept overhead low
with lean operations and unpretentious offices. The streamlined LDDS
brought on new clients with a claim of customer service that larger long
distance companies could not offer. LDDS did not use telemarketing to
solicit new business, but mobilized a direct sales force to make personal
contacts. After the initial face-to-face solicitation, LDDS made monthly, and
sometimes weekly, office calls to ensure that the customers' service was
satisfactory. The company provided an alternative to the major long
distance carriers' across-the-board packages by tailoring service to each
customer's calling patterns, which simultaneously maximized routing
efficiency and cut costs. The major long distance carriers at this time also
were exerting a great deal of effort to secure big-ticket clients; LDDS was
able to take advantage of this by concentrating on small business customers
who were falling through the cracks.
LDDS Grew Rapidly Through Acquisition in the Late 1980s and Early
1990s
Within six months of Ebbers's move into the driver's seat, the company had
moved into the black. In 1986 revenue rose to $8.6 million, and a year later
sales had grown to $18 million. By 1988 annual revenues had skyrocketed
to $95 million. Consolidation and acquisitions were the principal factors
that enabled LDDS to accomplish this rapid growth during the last five
years of the 1980s. The company leveraged its order to buy other third-tier
long distance companies, including: Telesphere Network, Inc. (1987); Com-
Link 21, Inc. of Tennessee (1988); Telephone Management Corporation
(1988); Inter-Comm Telephone, Inc. (1989); ClayDesta Communications of
Texas (1989); Microtel, Inc. (1989); and Galesi Telecommunications of
Florida (1989). The acquisitions cost the company a total of about $35
million, but expanded LDDS's geographic network to include Missouri,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, and
Florida.
Each company over which LDDS assumed control performed better after
acquisition. Part of the success was attributed to the LDDS standards of
customer service, but the economies of scale gained when more companies
came on line also brought higher profitability. LDDS applied its customer
service ideals to new acquisitions through a decentralized system wherein
each state office set its own sales goals. Companies in the system
formulated their own marketing strategies in response to local market
conditions.
LDDS's annual earnings grew from $641,000 in 1986 to more than $4.5
million in 1989. That same year the company merged with 17-year-old,
Nashville-based, Advantage Company, a public company that was losing
money when the two consolidated. The merger benefited both companies--it
enabled LDDS to reduce its debt and finance future purchases through
stock offers, and it brought Advantage into profitability. LDDS was now a
public company, incorporated under the name LDDS Communications, Inc.
By the end of 1989, LDDS's revenue-per-employee stood at $360,000, more
than double the industry average, and triple that of some of LDDS's higher-
priced competitors. LDDS also pursued other avenues to spur growth. Its 14
percent annual internal growth rate was fueled by thorough infiltration of
its growing markets.
Despite the economic downturn of the early 1990s, LDDS continued its
upward climb. The long distance telephone business was not adversely
affected by the economic climate, as the telephone had long since
established itself as an indispensable part of the business world. In fact,
LDDS made two acquisitions that year, purchasing Mercury, Inc. for $10.3
million and Tele-Marketing Corporation of Louisiana for $15.5 million.
Despite the recession, LDDS's 1990 profit was $9.8 million, ten times its
1986 total. Sales had grown sixteenfold in that same time span.
LDDS made three acquisitions in 1991, using cash, stock, and bank debt to
finance purchases that totaled $90 million. National Telecommunications of
Austin was purchased with a combination of $27 million in cash and stock.
The acquisition of Phone America of Carolina established an LDDS presence
in North and South Carolina and eastern Tennessee. These two companies
had combined annual revenues of $51 million. LDDS also made its largest
acquisition up to that time with the purchase of Mid-American
Communications Corporation. Mid-American provided long distance service
to Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, North Dakota,
Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The acquisitions enabled
LDDS to increase its sales by 71 percent over 1990 to $263.41 million.
Between 1983 and 1991, LDDS spent more than $200 million to purchase
about 24 smaller companies. The additions brought the LDDS network to 27
states, a system that excluded only the Northeast and Northwest. The
downside of all of this growth was that it left the company with $165 million
in long-term debt, as well as a negative net worth.
At about the same time, AT&T started trying aggressively to win back
customers of all sizes. Despite its dramatic success, LDDS and other third-
tier long distance companies had captured about one percent only of the
total long distance market at this point. In the 1990s the big three
telecommunications companies aimed for the small- and medium-sized
businesses they had previously neglected.
LDDS Became Fourth Largest Long Distance Company in 1992
LDDS did not stand idly by, however. In 1992 LDDS acquired Shared Use
Network Systems, Inc.; Automated Communications, Inc.; Prime
Telecommunications Corporation; TFN Group Communications, Inc.; and
Telemarketing Investments, Ltd. These companies, combined, expanded
LDDS service in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico,
New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. The new affiliates filled
in LDDS's service network and brought a total of $66 million in annual
revenues.
But a much more important development for the company in 1992 was its
merger with Advanced Telecommunications Corporation (ATC). The Atlanta-
based company had $350 million in annual sales spread over a network of
26 southern states. The merger increased LDDS's annual revenues by 30
percent to $801 million in 1992. Although merger-related expenses caused
LDDS to take a loss of $8 million for the year, the company expected to
realize significant cost savings, increased opportunities for acquisitions, and
a wider variety of products with the consolidation. Cost savings were
achieved through LDDS's ever-enlarging networks, which produced a
situation in which a larger percentage of the company's calls originated and
terminated within its service area. Therefore, more calls stayed on the
network of low-cost transmission facilities that were owned or leased by
LDDS. Of course, increased volume lowered the per-minute costs. LDDS's
acquisition of ATC also made the consolidated company the fourth largest
long distance provider in the United States (behind AT&T, MCI, and Sprint).
In March 1993 LDDS acquired Dial-Net Inc., which had operations spread
throughout half of the United States. Two months later, the company moved
into a new headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi. LDDS had dodged rumors
and predictions of imminent takeover almost since its inception; in an effort
to put to rest such speculation, in September 1993 the company merged
with Metromedia Communications Corporation (MCC) of East Rutherford,
New Jersey, and Resurgens Communications Group, Inc. of Atlanta.
Through the three-way transaction, valued at $1.2 billion, LDDS
shareholders collected about 68.5 percent of the fully diluted equity of the
combined company, while MCC and Resurgens shareholders secured the
remainder. LDDS issued 19 million new common shares in conjunction with
the merger and made a private placement of $50 million in convertible
preferred stock. The merger extended LDDS's network to include all 48
mainland states, with MCC's strength in the northeast and Resurgens's
strength in California of particular importance. The new entity was renamed
LDDS Communications, Inc.; John Kluge, who had been chairman of MCC,
became chairman of LDDS Communications, and Ebbers was named CEO.
Diversified LDDS Emerged as WorldCom in 1995
LDDS Communications dramatically broadened its telecommunications
offerings in the mid-1990s through a series of significant acquisitions. In
December 1994 the company acquired Culver City, California-based IDB
Communications Group, Inc. in a $900 million stock deal that greatly
expanded its international capabilities. Gained through the purchase were
gateways to 65 countries, voice and data networks, undersea cables, and
international earth stations and satellites. The next month LDDS completed
the acquisition of WilTel Network Services for $2.5 billion in cash from The
Williams Companies, a pipeline company. Williams had created an 11,000-
mile fiber optic cable network, much of it snaked through unused oil and
gas pipelines. It was one of only four national networks in the United States.
LDDS had quickly moved from being a leaser of a larger rival's phone lines
to having one of the most sophisticated U.S. networks, as well as
international gateways and networks. With its eye on becoming a global
leader in telecommunications, the company changed its name to WorldCom,
Inc. in May 1995. Basketball superstar Michael Jordan started a stint as a
corporate spokesperson for the company in December of that year. For the
year, WorldCom recorded revenues of $3.70 billion, a 65 percent increase
over the prior year.
Having added international capabilities and a nationwide network to its
core long distance business, WorldCom next aimed for a piece of the local
communication service market. It was helped in this effort by the February
1996 signing into law of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which
permitted local and long distance companies to enter each other's markets.
Following the passage of this landmark legislation, WorldCom signed
agreements to become the primary provider of long distance service for
GTE, Ameritech, and SBC Mobile Systems. The company received
permission from state regulators in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, California,
and Texas to provide local telephone service. In December 1996 WorldCom
acquired MFS Communications Company, Inc. for $14.4 billion in stock.
MFS was a leading provider of alternative local network access facilities--
bypassing the Bell networks--through digital fiber optic cable networks it
had built in and around more than 50 U.S. cities as well as several in
Europe. The addition of MFS made WorldCom the first company to offer
both local and long distance services over its own network in the United
States since the AT&T breakup. MFS also owned a trans-Atlantic fiber optic
link and had just acquired--in August 1996--UUNET Technologies, Inc., the
world's largest Internet service provider (and also the first). MFS Chairman
James Q. Crowe was named chairman of WorldCom following the merger,
UUNET CEO John W. Sidgmore was named vice-chairman, and Ebbers
remained president and CEO. WorldCom revenues reached $4.49 billion in
1996, although the company recorded a net loss of $2.21 billion, reflecting a
$2.14 billion charge related to the acquisition of MFS.
WorldCom could now offer an impressive array of individual services--local,
long distance, Internet, and international&mdash well as "bundled" services
that were particularly attractive to businesses. One area in which it was
clearly lacking was cellular, although in 1996 it had purchased Phoenix,
Arizona-based Choice Cellular, one of the leading cellular resellers in the
United States. But WorldCom was not done dealing. From September
through November 1997 the company announced acquisitions of
CompuServe Corporation, Brooks Fiber Properties, Inc., and MCI.
CompuServe was acquired from H&R Block Inc. in January 1998 for $1.2
billion in stock. WorldCom retained CompuServe's data network but
swapped its consumer online service division for America Online's ANS
network services subsidiary. These network additions significantly bolstered
UUNET's capacity. January 1998 also saw WorldCom complete its $2.9
billion purchase of Brooks Fiber, like MFS a provider of alternative local
access networks in the United States. Brooks Fiber added an additional 34
cities to the 52 markets where WorldCom already offered alternative local
phone services.
MCI WorldCom Created in 1998
For 1997 WorldCom posted revenues of $7.35 billion, a 64 percent increase
over 1996. The combination of WorldCom and MCI, however, was expected
to add up to a company with revenues exceeding $30 billion. The $37 billion
merger (including $7 billion in cash paid by WorldCom to acquire BT's 20
percent stake in MCI), which was consummated on September 15, 1998,
was at the time of its announcement in November 1997 the largest merger
ever, although it soon was eclipsed by other deals in the merger frenzy of
the late 1990s. The resultant MCI WorldCom, Inc. boasted of 22 million
customers, 25 percent of the long distance market in the United States,
some 933,000 miles of fiber for long distance service, local network
facilities in 100 U.S. markets, 508,000 fiber miles for local service, and an
international presence in more than 200 countries. European regulators,
fearful that MCI WorldCom would have too much control of the Internet
backbone, forced MCI to divest all of its Internet assets, and MCI agreed in
July 1998 to sell them to Cable & Wireless PLC for about $1.6 billion in
cash. MCI WorldCom, however, was able to keep WorldCom's prized
UUNET Internet operation. As with other WorldCom takeovers, Ebbers took
the posts of president and CEO of the new entity, and MCI's Roberts was
named chairman.
In March 1998, meanwhile, Telefonica de España S.A. joined with
WorldCom and MCI in business ventures that aimed at expanding MCI
WorldCom's reach in Europe and Latin America. WorldCom in August 1998
sold $6.1 billion in bonds, the largest corporate bond deal in history, raising
funds to help pay for its purchase of MCI. In December 1998 EchoStar
Communications Corp. agreed to buy the satellite television business of
News Corporation and MCI WorldCom (including ASkyB) in a stock
transaction valued at more than $1 billion, with MCI WorldCom slated to be
left with a stake of about seven percent in EchoStar. In August 1998 BT
agreed to buy MCI's 24.9 percent stake in the Concert joint venture for $1
billion, effectively bringing to a close the two companies' partnership. It was
not the end of Concert, however, as BT had in the meantime formed a new
global joint venture with AT&T to provide multinational clients a host of
telecommunications and data services; Concert was melded into this joint
venture. In late September 1998 the newly charged competitive
environment was clearly evident when MCI WorldCom launched its own
bundled service for multinationals, called On-Net. Certainly the
telecommunications wars--which MCI had helped precipitate--were only just
beginning, and MCI WorldCom was certain to be on the front line of nearly
every battle.
Principal Divisions: MCI WorldCom; UUNET WorldCom; WorldCom
International.
Additional Details
Public Company
Incorporated: 1998
Employees: 75,000
Sales: $30 billion (1998 est.)
Stock Exchanges: NASDAQ
Ticker Symbol: WCOM
SICs: 4813 Telephone Communications, Except Radio; 4822
Telegraph & Other Message Communications; 4899 Communication
Services, Not Elsewhere Classified; 7379 Computer Related Services,
Not Elsewhere Classified
Further Reference
Barrett, Amy, and Elstrom, Peter, "Making WorldCom Live Up to Its Name," Business Week, July 14, 1997, pp. 65--66."Bernie Ebbers Saved the Company," Mississippi Business Journal, November 1989, p. 316.Cantelon, Philip L., The History of MCI: 1968--1988, the Early Years, Dallas: Heritage Press, 1993.Coll, Steve, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T, New York: Atheneum, 1986.Donlon, J.P., "Convergence Calling," Chief Executive, May 1996, pp. 32--36.Elstrom, Peter, "The Axman Cometh?: WorldCom's Pattern: Shopping, Then Chopping," Business Week, October 20, 1997, pp. 36--37.Elstrom, Peter, and others, "The New World Order," Business Week, October 13, 1997, pp. 26--30, 32--33.Epstein, Joseph, "Private-Label Long Distance," Financial World, April 22, 1996, pp. 52--54, 56.Faulhaber, Gerald R., Telecommunications in Turmoil: Technology and Public Policy, Cambridge: Ballinger Publishing, 1987.Frank, Robert, and Holden, Benjamin A., "LDDS Agrees To Acquire IDB in Stock Swap," Wall Street Journal, August 2, 1994, p. A3.Gianturco, Michael, "Telephone Numbers," Forbes, June 22, 1992, p. 108.Jones, Kevin D., "LDDS: From Zero to $150 Million in Six Years, But Analysts Say It's a Takeover Target," Mississippi Business Journal, November 1989, pp. 26--30.Kahaner, Larry, On the Line: The Men of MCI--Who Took On AT&T, Risked Everything and
Won, New York: Warner Books, 1986.Keller, John J., and Lipin, Steven, "The Battle for MCI Takes Another Twist: Now, It's GTE's Turn," Wall Street Journal, October 16, 1997, pp. A1, A10.------, "WorldCom, MCI Deal Could Rewrite Script for a New Phone Era," Wall Street Journal, November 11, 1997, pp. A1, A6.Keller, John J., and Naik, Gautum, "Merger Poses a Bold Challenge to Bells: WorldCom, MFS Confirm $12.4 Billion Accord," Wall Street Journal, August 27, 1996, p. A3.Kupfer, Andrew, "MCI WorldCom: It's the Biggest Merger Ever. Can It Rule Telecom?," Fortune, April 27, 1998, pp. 118+.Lewyn, Mark, "MCI: Attacking on All Fronts," Business Week, June 13, 1994, pp. 76--79.------, "MCI Is Coming Through Loud and Clear," Business Week, January 25, 1993, pp. 84--85.Lipin, Steven, and Keller, John J., "WorldCom's MCI Bid Alters Playing Field for Telecom Industry," Wall Street Journal, October 2, 1997, pp. A1, A8.Mehta, Stephanie N., "WorldCom Quietly Completes MCI Communications Purchase," Wall Street Journal, September 15, 1998, p. B6.Naik, Gautam, and Keller, John J., "BT Cuts Purchase Price for MCI by $5 Billion," Wall Street Journal, August 25, 1997, p. A4.Schiesel, Seth, "The Re-engineering of Bernie Ebbers," New York Times, April 27, 1998, pp. D1, D5.Selz, Michael, "LDDS Communications Wins Big by Thinking Small," Wall Street Journal, July 26, 1991.Simon, Samuel A., After Divestiture: What the AT&T Settlement Means for Business and Residential Telephone Service, White Plains, New York: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1985.Sprout, Alison L., "MCI: Can It Become the Communications Company of the Next Century?," Fortune, October 2, 1995, pp. 107+.Spurge, Lorraine, Failure Is Not an Option: How MCI Invented Competition in Telecommunications, Encino, Calif.: Spurge Ink!, 1998.Stone, Alan, Wrong Number: The Breakup of AT&T, New York: Basic Books, 1989.Thomas, Emory, Jr., "LDDS Prospers Through Aggressive Acquisitions," Wall Street Journal, May 9, 1994, p. B4.Thomas, Emory, Jr., and Caleb Solomon, "LDDS to Buy WilTel Unit from Williams," Wall Street Journal, August 23, 1994, p. A3.Tunstall, Brooke W., Disconnecting Parties, Managing the Bell System Breakup: An Inside View, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985.Ward, Judy, "Critic's Choice: As It Steps Out from AT&T's Shadow, MCI Finds Itself More Scrutinized Than Ever," Financial World, July 18, 1995, pp. 32--34.
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