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SBC Might Buy AT&T

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the soon-there-will-just-be-one dept.

ChipGuy writes "SBC is in talks to buy AT&T according to Wall Street Journal and New York Times, both reporting price tag to be between $15-and-$16 billion. The news comes close on heels of SBC reported weaker earnings and 7000 job cuts. The New York Times says talks are fluid and sensitive. Wall Street Journal says, "a major acquisition would speak to SBC Chief Executive Edward Whitacre Jr.'s aim of turning the company into a national brand and his desire to do at least one final deal before he retires." Om Malik writes that "buying AT&T will make sense for anyone, and not just SBC. Why? Because AT&T still is the only game in the enterprise markets. MCI is hurting and Sprint clearly wants to focus on wireless. That leaves AT&T in a pretty good shape.""

12 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Breaking up... by Laterite · · Score: 3, Informative

    " That would be the case, if long-distance and land lines were the monopoly that they once were... but since AT&T sold off their wireless portion..." SBC runs a joint venture with BellSouth called Cingular Wireless...which just bought At&T Wireless, which was spun off from AT&T...which was busted up 20 years ago to form SBC, BellSouth, etc. etc. yadda yadda... -Mark

  2. Why? by grasshoppa · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why would you, as SBC, be looking to put out more cash, if you just LOST cash last reporting period?

    This must be that business sense i hear so much about.

    Not only that, but as an AT&T customer, I'd be scared. SBC is, with the possible exception of CompUSA, the worst company I have to deal with day in and day out. Their tech support is a fucking joke, and their products and services are medocre at best.

    Aside from that, do these mega-mergers ever actually, you know, work? Timewarner-AOL, HP Compaq?

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    1. Re:Why? by FictionPimp · · Score: 4, Informative
      Here's a treat for you from SBC customer service.

      I have comcast cable and I use vonage for phone service. Comcast just raised their rates, and I decided that I dont want to pay that much anymore and my friends dsl speeds are about the same for much less. So I call SBC and click though all the menu's to get to sales. I ask about dsl. She asks my address, my name and my phone number. I give her all 3. She informs me that my number is not under their service. I tell her that I use voice over IP, but I would be willing to get their local phone service if I can get DSL. She said they can't check to see if I can get dsl without me first getting phone service!

      So we go round and round about this. I ask what the cheaps phone service I can get is, and we go round and round about that. Can't not choose a long distance carrier, you are charged more for not picking a package deal thing, etc. Finally, I decide you can't get a phone for less then 40.00 a month, and on top of that, because I've never been a customer they want a 150.00 deposit.

      So I said screw it. I just canceled my expanded cable package and kept basic cable and cable internet. I'll use BT to get the shows I miss.

    2. Re:Why? by dukerobillard · · Score: 2, Informative
      She said they can't check to see if I can get dsl without me first getting phone service!

      Although it's lame, that's because they don't know where your line will terminate if you don't have a line. Your DSL eligibility depends on which CO you go to, and how far from that CO you are. Without having a line to check, they don't really know where you are.

  3. Shameful... by SmokeHalo · · Score: 1, Informative

    ...that they can announce 7K job cuts and then start making a play for a $15 billion+ acquisition.

    --
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  4. Re:More evidence... by KinkifyTheNation · · Score: 2, Informative

    Also, the image commented out along with the alternate text.

  5. Re:Perspective by xs650 · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Before we get into it about rebuilding the hated Ma Bell of yesteryear, keep this in perspective. SBC is right now one of the four remaining RBOCs, or Baby Bells, formed from the divestiture of AT&T (the original national phone monopoly) in 1984."

    SBC contains more than one Baby Bell. It already has at least SW Bell, Pacific Telephone and Bell of Nevada in it's belly.

  6. Re:Perspective by Octagon+Most · · Score: 2, Informative

    "SBC contains more than one Baby Bell. It already has at least SW Bell, Pacific Telephone and Bell of Nevada in it's belly."

    Actually Southwestern Bell bought two peers, Pacific Telesys (PacTel) and Ameritech. Then they bought SNET to stretch from coast to coast - southeast to northeast. I believe they are the biggest by geography, but Verizon is larger by users and revenue. BellSouth is the only remaining Baby Bell in its original form. The others merged with themselves and other independent phone companies to create the current SBC, Verizon, and Qwest.

  7. Re:More evidence... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is part of the promotion they ran when AT&T decided to give up the local market. You didn't find a secret. In my area SBC was running ads on TV saying "To all AT&T customers: we're here to stay".

  8. Re:HELL NO by REggert · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, one of the biggest problems that AT&T has faced was trying to remain profitable while remaining competitive in a market where one of its biggest competitors (MCI) turned out to be cooking its books to cut (apparent) costs.

    Of course, it didn't help that the (now-former) senior management decided to spin off one of its most profitable business units (AT&T Wireless) because they didn't think the cell phone business would get off the ground. Ironically, now that Cingular is buying up that unit, AT&T proper is taking the name back so it can get back into the cell phone business.

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  9. Re:fuck SBC and their outsorced tech support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    TOTAL BULLSHIT. I have SBC DSL, their tech support is located in the US. Maybe you were talking to someone in Oklahoma. As far as Linux, they don't "officially" support it. Find a cool tech, I've had Linux questions answered. Fuckwit.

  10. AT&T Wireless and the rest of AT&T... by Trinity-Infinity · · Score: 2, Informative

    Cingular already bought AT&T Wireless. For SBC (40% owner of Cingular) to buy the remainder of AT&T would be a smart move on their part. It's my impression they're doing it for access to the marketshare rather than any infrastructure or technology they have. What SBC wants is more customers, this is a very direct way to do it.

    I do wonder if this will mean SBC can sell local service beyond the 13 state region they are currently in?