AT&T Corporation

AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and

Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides AT&T Corporation
voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional
services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies.

During its long history, AT&T was at times the world's largest
telephone company, the world's largest cable television operator, and
a regulated monopoly. At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, it The logo AT&T currently uses
employed one million people and its revenue ranged between $3 launched in 2016.
billion in 1950 [2] ($34.7 billion in present-day terms[3]) and $12 Formerly American
billion in 1966 [4] ($97.9 billion in present-day terms[3]). Telephone and
Telegraph Company
In 2005, AT&T was purchased by Baby Bell and former subsidiary
SBC Communications for more than $16 billion ($20.9 billion in Type Subsidiary
present-day terms[3]). SBC then changed its name to AT&T Inc. Industry Telecommunications
Founded March 3, 1885
New York City, New
Contents York, United States
Founders Alexander Graham
History Bell
Origins Gardiner Greene
Monopoly Hubbard[1]
The Break-up Thomas Sanders[1]
Acquisition by SBC Headquarters Dallas, Texas,
The AT&T headquarters buildings United States
Area served United States
Divisions
Nicknames and branding Products Telephone services
Long-distance
List of AT&T Chief Executive Officers
calling
See also Internet services
References American Bell
Parent
Footnotes (1885-1899)
Works cited Bell System (1899-
External links 1984)
Independent (1984-
2005)
AT&T Inc. (2005-
History present)
Subsidiaries AT&T
Origins Communications
Inc.
Website www.att.com (http://
www.att.com)
AT&T started with Bell Patent Association, a legal entity established in 1874 to protect
the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell after he invented the telephone system.
Originally a verbal agreement, it was formalized in writing in 1875 as Bell Telephone
Company.[5][6]

In 1880 the management of American Bell had created what would become AT&T
Long Lines. The project was the first of its kind to create a nationwide long-distance A Bell System
network with a commercially viable cost-structure. The project was formally logo (called the
incorporated in New York State as a separate company named American Telephone Blue Bell) used
and Telegraph Company on March 3, 1885. Originating in New York, its long- from 1889 to
distance telephone network reached Chicago, Illinois, in 1892,[7] with its multitudes of 1916.
local exchanges continuing to stretch further and further yearly, eventually creating a
continent-wide telephone system. On December 30, 1899, the assets
of American Bell were transferred into its subsidiary American
Telephone and Telegraph Company (formerly AT&T Long Lines); this
was because Massachusetts corporate laws were very restrictive, and
limited capitalization to ten million dollars, forestalling American
Bell's further growth. With this assets transfer at the very end of the
19th century, AT&T became the parent of both American Bell and the
Bell System.[8]

AT&T was involved mainly in the telephone business and, although it Share of the American Telephone &
was a partner with RCA, was reluctant to see radio grow because Telegraph Company, issued 20.
such growth might diminish the demand for wired services. It December 1921
established station WEAF in New York as what was termed a toll
station. AT&T could provide no programming, but anyone who
wished to broadcast a message could pay a "toll" to AT&T and then air the message publicly. The original
studio was the size of a telephone booth. The idea, however, did not take hold, because people would pay to
broadcast messages only if they were sure that someone was listening. As a result, WEAF began broadcasting
entertainment material, drawing amateur talent found among its employees. Opposition to AT&T's expansion
into radio and an agreement with the National Broadcasting Company to lease long-distance lines for their
broadcasts resulted in the sale of the station and its developing network of affiliates to NBC.[9]

Monopoly

Throughout most of the 20th century, AT&T held a monopoly on phone service in the United States and
Canada through a network of companies called the Bell System. At this time, the company was nicknamed
Ma Bell.

On April 30, 1907, Theodore Newton Vail became President of AT&T.[10][11] Vail believed in the superiority
of one phone system and AT&T adopted the slogan "One Policy, One System, Universal Service."[10][11]
This would be the company's philosophy for the next 70 years.[11]

Under Vail, AT&T began buying up many of the smaller telephone companies including Western Union
telegraph.[10][11] These actions brought unwanted attention from antitrust regulators. Anxious to avoid action
from government antitrust suits, AT&T and the federal government entered into an agreement known as the
Kingsbury Commitment.[10][11] In the Kingsbury Commitment, AT&T and the government reached an
agreement that allowed AT&T to continue operating as a monopoly. While AT&T periodically faced scrutiny
from regulators, this state of affairs continued until the company's breakup in 1984.

The Break-up
The United States Justice Department opened the case United States v. AT&T in 1974. This was prompted by
suspicion that AT&T was using monopoly profits from its Western Electric subsidiary to subsidize the cost of
its network, a violation of anti-trust law.[12] A settlement to this case was finalized in 1982, leading to the
division of the company on January 1, 1984 into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies, commonly
known as Baby Bells. These companies were:

Ameritech, acquired by SBC in 1999, now part of AT&T Inc.

Bell Atlantic (now Verizon Communications), which acquired GTE in 2000
BellSouth, acquired by AT&T Inc. in 2006
NYNEX, acquired by Bell Atlantic in 1996, now part of Verizon Communications
Pacific Telesis, acquired by SBC in 1997, now part of AT&T Inc.
Southwestern Bell (later SBC, now AT&T Inc.), which acquired AT&T Corp. in 2005
US West, acquired by Qwest in 2000, which in turn was acquired by CenturyLink in 2011

Post-breakup, the former parent company's main business was now AT&T Communications Inc., which
focused on long-distance services, and with other non-RBOC activities.

AT&T acquired NCR Corporation in 1991. AT&T announced in 1995 that it would split into three companies:
a manufacturing/R&D company, a computer company, and a services company. NCR, Bell Labs and AT&T
Technologies were to be spun off by 1997. In preparation for its spin-off, AT&T Technologies was renamed
Lucent Technologies. Lucent was completely spun off from AT&T in 1996.

Acquisition by SBC

On January 31, 2005, the "Baby Bell" company SBC Communications announced its plans to acquire "Ma
Bell" AT&T Corp. for $16 billion. SBC announced in October 2005 that it would shed the "SBC" brand and
take the AT&T brand along with the "T" NYSE ticker symbol.

Merger approval concluded on November 18, 2005; SBC Communications began rebranding the following
Monday, November 21 as "AT&T Inc." and began trading as AT&T on December 1 under the "T" symbol.

The AT&T headquarters buildings

From 1885 to 1910, AT&T was headquartered at 125 Milk Street in Boston. With its expansion it moved to
New York City, to a headquarters on 195 Broadway (close to what is now the World Trade Center site). The
property originally belonged to Western Union, of which AT&T held a controlling interest until 1913 when
AT&T divested its interest as part of the Kingsbury Commitment.[11] Construction of the current building
began in 1912. Designed by William Welles Bosworth, who played a significant role in designing Kykuit, the
Rockefeller mansion north of Tarrytown, New York, it was a modern steel structure clad top to bottom in a
Greek-styled exterior, the three-story-high Ionic columns of Vermont granite forming eight registers over a
Doric base.[13] The lobby of the AT&T Building was one of the most unusual ones of the era. Instead of a
large double-high space, similar to the nearby Woolworth Building, Bosworth designed what is called a
"hypostyle hall", with full-bodied Doric columns modeled on the Parthenon, marking out a grid. Bosworth
was seeking to coordinate the classical tradition with the requirements of a modern building. Columns were
not merely the decorative elements they had become in the hands of other architects but created all the illusion
of being real supports. Bosworth also designed the campus of MIT as well as Theodore N. Vail's mansion in
Morristown, New Jersey.
In 1978, AT&T commissioned a new building at 550 Madison Avenue. This new AT&T Building was
designed by Philip Johnson and quickly became an icon of the new Postmodern architectural style. The
building was completed in 1984, the very year of the divestiture of the Bell System. The building proved to be
too large for the post-divestiture corporation and in 1993, AT&T leased the building to Sony, which now owns
it.[14][15]

Divisions
AT&T, prior to its merger with SBC Communications, had three core companies:

AT&T Alascom
AT&T Communications
AT&T Laboratories

AT&T Alascom continues to sell service in Alaska. AT&T Communications was renamed AT&T
Communications - East, Inc. and sold long-distance telephone service and operated as a CLEC outside of
the borders of the Bell Operating Companies that AT&T owns. It has now been absorbed into AT&T Corp.
and all but 4 of the original 22 subsidiaries that formed AT&T Communications continue to exist. The AT&T
company had become too large and the government, having water to prevent a monopoly forced AT&T to
break up. AT&T Laboratories has been integrated into AT&T Labs, formerly named SBC Laboratories.

Nicknames and branding

AT&T was also known as "Ma Bell" and affectionately called "Mother" by phone phreaks. During some
strikes by its employees, picketers would wear T-shirts reading, "Ma Bell is a real mother." It is worth noting
too that, before the break-up, there was greater consumer recognition of the "Bell System" name, in
comparison to the name AT&T. This prompted the company to launch an advertising campaign after the
break-up to increase its name recognition. Spinoffs like the Regional Bell Operating Companies or RBOCs
were often called "Baby Bells". Ironically, "Ma Bell" was acquired by one of its "Baby Bells", SBC
Communications, in 2005.

The AT&T Globe Symbol,[16] the corporate logo designed by Saul Bass in 1983 and originally used by
AT&T Information Systems, was created because part of the United States v. AT&T settlement required AT&T
to relinquish all claims to the use of Bell System trademarks. It has been nicknamed the "Death Star" in
reference to the Death Star space station in Star Wars which the logo resembles. In 1999 it was changed from
the 12-line design to the 8-line design. Again in 2005 it was changed to the 3D transparent "marble" design
created by Interbrand for use by the parent company AT&T Inc. This name was also given to the iconic Bell
Labs facility in Holmdel, New Jersey, now vacant.

List of AT&T Chief Executive Officers

The following is a list of the 16 CEOs of AT&T Corporation, from its incorporation in 1885 until its purchase
by SBC Communications in 2005.[17]
# Chief Executive Officer Years in office Title

1 Theodore Newton Vail 1885–1887 President

2 John E. Hudson 1887–1900 President

3 Frederick Perry Fish 1901–1907 President

4 Theodore Newton Vail 1907–1919 President

5 Harry Bates Thayer 1919–1925 President

6 Walter Sherman Gifford 1925–1948 President

7 Leroy A. Wilson 1948–1951 President

8 Cleo F. Craig 1951–1956 President

1956–1961 President
9 Frederick Kappel
1961–1967 Chairman
10 H.I. Romnes 1967–1972 Chairman
11 John D. deButts 1972–1979 Chairman
12 Charles L. Brown 1979–1986 Chairman
13 James E. Olson 1986–1988 Chairman
14 Robert Eugene Allen 1988–1997 Chairman
15 C. Michael Armstrong 1997–2002 Chairman
16 David Dorman 2002–2005 Chairman
See also
Bell Telephone Memorial, a monument sculpted by W.S. Allard, commemorating the invention
of the telephone
International Bell Telephone Company, sister company to American Bell Telephone, with its
headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

References

Footnotes
1. Bruce, Robert V. (1990) [1st pub. 1973]. Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of
Solitude. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0-8014-9691-8.
2. "Annual Report 1950, American Telephone & Telegraph Company" (https://www.beatriceco.co
m/bti/porticus/bell/pdf/1950ATTar_Complete.pdf) (PDF).
3. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" (https://www.
minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator/consumer-price-index-1800-).
Retrieved January 1, 2020.
4. "Annual Report 1966, American Telephone & Telegraph Company" (https://www.beatriceco.co
m/bti/porticus/bell/pdf/1966ATTar_Complete.pdf) (PDF).
5. Bruce 1990, p. 291.
6. Pizer 2009, pp. 120–124.Bruce 1990, p. 291
7. Bruce 1990.Bruce 1990, p. 291
8. Brooks 1976, p. 107.Bruce 1990, p. 291
9. Perry, S. D. (2004). A Consolidated History of Media (3rd ed.). Bloomington, IL: Epistelogic.
10. Thierer, Adam D. (1994). "Unnatural Monopoly: Critical Moments in the Development of the
Bell System Monopoly" (https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1994/
11/cj14n2-6.pdf) (PDF). Cato Journal. Cato Institute. 14 (2): 267–285.
11. "AT&T Milestones in AT&T History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080928163604/http://www.c
orp.att.com/history/milestones.html). AT&T. Archived from the original (http://www.corp.att.com/
history/milestones.html) on September 28, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
12. Yurick, p. 7.Bruce 1990, p. 291
13. Jarzombek, Mark (2004). Designing MIT: Bosworth's New Tech. Boston: Northeastern
University Press. pp. 65–68. ISBN 1555536190. OCLC 55124376 (https://www.worldcat.org/ocl
c/55124376).
14. Popik, Barry (September 25, 2005). "Chippendale Building (SONY building)" (http://www.barry
popik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/chippendale_building_sony_building/). The Big
Apple.
15. Stoler, Michael (September 8, 2005). "Fortune 100 Companies Capitalize on Record Prices" (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20071226172648/http://www.firstamny.com/stoler_9_8_05.aspx).
The Stoler Report. First American Title Insurance Company of New York. Archived from the
original (http://www.firstamny.com/stoler_9_8_05.aspx) on December 26, 2007.
16. Massey, David. "Bell Logo History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110930051711/http://www.p
orticus.org/bell/bell_logos.html). Bell System Memorial. The Porticus Centre. Archived from the
original (http://www.porticus.org/bell/bell_logos.html) on September 30, 2011.
17. Focus magazine (internal AT&T company publication), sidebar titled "AT&T's chief executives",
1988
Works cited
Brock, Gerald W. (1981). The Telecommunications Industry The Dynamics Of Market Structure
(https://archive.org/details/telecommunicatio0151broc). Harvard Economic Studies. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-87285-1.
Brooks, John (1976). Telephone The First Hundred Years (https://archive.org/details/telephonef
irsthu00broo). Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-010540-2.
"Milestones in AT&T History" (http://www.corp.att.com/history/milestones.html). AT&T.
Retrieved December 14, 2013.

External links
AT&T (https://web.archive.org/*/http://www.att.com) (Archive)
The short film A CONTINENT IS BRIDGED (Reel 1 of 4 (https://archive.org/details/gov.archive
s.arc.89093.r1), Reel 2 of 4 (https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.89093.r2), Reel 3 of 4 (h
ttps://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.89093.r3), Reel 4 of 4 (https://archive.org/details/gov.a
rchives.arc.89093.r4)) (1940) is available for free download at the Internet Archive
American Telephone & Telegraph logos, adverts and historical telephone maps on the Baring
archive Risks and Rewards website (http://www.risksandrewards.org.uk/source_56.html)
Historical AT&T Financial Documents (https://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/att/historical
_financial.htm)

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