It is hard to imagine our world without technology, especially IT. An IT specialist is considered the highest paid profession in the world.
Let’s get to know AT&T, an IT company where hundreds of specialists from all over the world want to work. Read more about it on dallas-future.
IT companies
Dallas did not even have the status of a city until the 20th century. During the following period, it acquired such flourishing development that many cities would envy. Dallas is a fairly modern and developed city, which is called the Silicon Valley of Texas. This is not for nothing because the city is the headquarters of more than two dozen IT companies and other giant enterprises.
Brief analytics
AT&T is an American multinational telecommunications company. Its headquarters are located in the Whitacre Tower, which is located in the center of Dallas. The company has the world’s largest revenue among similar companies and third place in the supply of mobile communication for the USA. As of the end of 2022, AT&T was ranked 13th in the Fortune 500 ranking among the largest US corporations. The company’s revenue is $168.8 billion.
The brief history of AT&T
Alexander Graham Bell founded AT&T in 1885. He invented the telephone and gained world popularity. Thomas Watson and Gardiner Greene Hubbard were the co-founders. American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) became a subsidiary of Bell Telephone Company. In 1899, AT&T purchased the shares of its parent project becoming the new parent company for the smaller ones. Continuing to develop in 1913, AT&T, together with its subsidiaries, created a monopoly for telephone services in the US. This organization was called the Bell System. The Americans gave it the name Ma Bell.
Decline
Bell’s telephone monopoly lasted for almost 70 years. In 1982, US regulators broke it up. The company was demanded to give up its subsidiaries. The requirement was fulfilled and 7 independent companies were formed from small projects. They were symbolically called Baby Bells or Regional Bell Operating Companies officially.
AT&T continued to provide telephone service but faced heavy competition from overseas companies. Later, Southwestern Bell Corporation, one of the companies that was created by AT&T, gradually brought up Baby Bells. After absorbing smaller branches, it was named SBC Communications Inc. Until 1998, it was in the top 15 in the USA according to the Fortune 500 rating.
Mom’s purchase
In November 2005, SBC Communications Inc. bought its parent company AT&T for $16 billion. The merger took place under the name of parent AT&T, although AT&T Corp. still exists as a long-distance telephone subsidiary.
Development
In 2011, AT&T wanted to buy T-Mobile (a German mobile phone operator) for $39 billion. Due to the great resistance of the US government, the operation was not completed.
In 2013, AT&T expanded its operations to Latin America. It started cooperation with America Movil. In 2006, BellSouth Corporation (producer of cable) was purchased. As a result of this consolidation, AT&T renamed its Cingular retail stores to AT&T.
The pathway to the corporation
The development of AT&T did not stop. In 2014, the company acquired Mexican cellular company Iusacell, followed two months later by acquiring Mexican wireless business Nll Holdings. The two companies were later merged to form AT&T Mexico.
In 2015, AT&T bought DirektTV (a distributor of multi-channel video programs) for $45 billion. Then, it announced the merger of its existing home internet brands to create AT&T Entertainment.
Purchase of Warner
At the end of 2016, AT&T announced the purchase of Time Warner for $108.7 billion. A month later, an assistant attorney general sued AT&T to prevent the formation of a large monopoly. However, the court rejected the request. In June 2018, the merger of the companies was completed. Time Warner was later renamed WarnerMedia. This included the Warner TV and film industry, as well as major American TV channels, such as HBO, Adult Swim, Boomerang, CNN, TBS and many others.
After the merger, AT&T was divided into the next areas:
- consumer and business wireless communications
- AT&T Mobility and consumer video entertainment services
- WarnerMedia together with cable and television networks
- AT&T Latin America, which includes wireless services in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean
- Advertising and Analytics company, which is called Xandr.
A telephony giant
As of 2019, AT&T was the world’s largest telecommunications company. As with all giants, it faces some problems. At the beginning of March, the company announced the introduction of restrictions on its expenses. AT&T TV (paid streaming TV) also started promoting its new formation.
On April 24, 2020, the top management recognized that the purchase of Time Warner and DirektTV led them to a large debt of $200 billion. It was planned to sell previously acquired companies but the global pandemic and prosperous projects did not allow this to be done.
In early 2021, it sold several of its subsidiaries. In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired WarnerMedia and TMZ from AT&T for $50 billion. In December 2021, Xandr was sold to Microsoft. The price was not disclosed.
As of June 2022, John Stankey is the CEO of the corporation.
Thus, a small telephone company turned into a corporation and monopoly in the US and Latin America, absorbing and buying smaller ones.
