Back, before any of us were even alive circa 1917, the major companies in the world were giants like USS, Standard Oil, Bethlehem Steel, International Harvester, DuPoint and yes, ATT. Fifty years later (1967) the major corporations in the world were — IBM, Eastman Kodak, Sears Roebuck, GM, Texaco, GE, Gulf Oil and yes, ATT. 50 years later, 2017, the major corporations — Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, Berkshire Hathaway, JP Morgan, and yes, ATT. The business world has definitely shifted in the past 100 years and ATT has make some risky business decisions over those past 100 years, but few companies have had the staying power of ATT. The evolution of the company has not been without missteps, but the company is still here; after all this time. I know people whose family members worked for those now shuttered companies….life has not been easy for them. Maybe keep things in perspective….Few companies have survived and provided a decent living for so many. Peace!
20 replies (most recent on top)
The stock price was probably higher back then
Oh yeah. The extreme hatred and dislike routinely expressed on this forum is the definition of animus. ATT may not be the employer for you if your 'opinions' about their goals, choices, decisions are in conflict with your requirements. Not everyone is a fit here. It sounds like you should move on.
AT&T growing mobile and fiber subscribers. Moving forward.
The fact is AT&T does not need that many workers. Why keep so many workers when they aren't needed.
Not animus just facts,
There has been massive layoffs due to many bad business decisions and execution. The result has been the selling of assets everywhere and spinoffs, reductions and outright elimination of a lot of benefits. The company is also using discriminatory practices for hiring, promotions and probably layoffs too based on DEI not merit. The company has gone from #1 in wireless to number #3.
The above facts are proof of a company not growing but shrinking and in decline. Those that are still lucky to be employed have reasons for major concerns. So it’s why most posters aren’t looking through rose colored glasses with their head in the sand.
Personally, I’m glad I work for a company that affords me income which allows me to pay my bills and help my children. I’ve never understood the animus displayed in the majority of the postings. Life is too short to focus on what the company should have, could have, etc. It makes common sense to just move on to a company that exhibits your same ideas about their identity, financial decisions, and goals if ATT is not for you. I agree with the original posting and I’m not John Stankey. Smile.
Don’t you just love it when Stank comes on here and blames others for his failed strategies? In this case… it’s the… “hey… look… it’s not just me… other companies have gone bankrupt, too”… well… you see Stank… as special as you think you are… there are other id--t leaders out there who have bankrupted companies under their leadership… been happening for centuries… you are just one more in a very long list of toxic narcissists who will go down in history with shame attached to their names…enjoy your ill-gotten gains… we all know you have no clothes…
Go AT&T. The gravy train still paying us.
Following the logic of the previous poster…. That ‘ATT is not still here’…just the brand. Does that mean that Verizon is actually MCI…..? Companies get acquired all the time. SBC did a smart thing by keeping the world recognized brand. No company who existed 75-100 years ago operates the way it did in the past.
Is not really "still here". AT&T is long gone.. All that is left still here is SBC + att the name, the brand.
AT&T is on life support!
We don't want perspective. We just wanna complain about AT&T.
Ratty ki-led AT&T with his $100B of debt and Stinky created Toxic-T and is trying to bury it by keeping all the debt while selling off pieces for a shiny nickel.
Masterful deal making and worthless BoD.
ATT was in debt by more than $6B and a failing company when SBC purchased it. SBC wanted the name, ATT, primarily. Unfortunately SBC was a LEC run by Whitacre…and his successors have not been much better.
ATT started its demise when SBC acquired it! It's been nothing but one bad business decision after another which is why T employees are now having to pay the price! Sure, there were a handful of bad business decisions such as the NCR purchase in 1991, but ATT was able to recover by spinning it off along with Comcast! It certainly didn't put ATT $135B in the red!
SBC salvaged a mess of a company ATT in 2005 for $16 billion. If you ask those of us who worked for SBC, it was an acquisition with mixed feelings. ATT employees, for the most part, rejoiced. Bottom line, we all hoped the union would allow us to reach the retirement goal post. ATT is no better or worse than most corporations. For employees, timing is always the key.
The whiners keep whining while AT&T keeps chugging along.
SBC bought ATT because of it’s brand and MPLS network. But that’s besides the point, the business continues to roll along in spite of the ill fated choices of leadership. Otherwise most of those who joined the business 10-15 years ago would never been possible.
You realize the original AT&T is gone, right? The current AT&T acquired the name from the bankrupt husk of the original.
This is not the same AT&T that connected the country and invented the transistor.
T was a regulated monopoly until 1984. So it’s taken the unqualified, empire building corporatists like Charlie Brown, Jimmy Olsen, Bob Allen, John Walter, C. Michael Armstrong, Dave Dorman, Randall Stephenson 39 years to run the company into the fvcking ground.. Don’t kid yourself. This company is doomed. Parted out or acquired whole. It’s coming to an end. Sad.