SBC and AT&T Boards Vote to Go Ahead

telstar writes "As a follow-up to earlier coverage regarding the possible acquisition of AT&T by SBC, MSNBC is reporting that boards from both companies met to vote today and that the acquisition will go forward at a price of 16 billion dollars. Both companies are currently keeping the deal quiet."

Comments

Let's not slide back. Or should we?

[caferace]

Of course, a lot of this is going to rest on the combination making it past US gummint Antitrust hurdles.

I don't see this happening anytime soon. My SP asked me today why we ever broke up "Ma Bell" in the first place. I half-joked we'd still be dialing like this: (making circular motion) if we hadn't...

Re:Let's not slide back. Or should we?

[tinrobot]

I think you confuse the current government with those in the past who actually cared about creating competition.

George Bush's FTC will approve the merger. Guaranteed.

Re:Let's not slide back. Or should we?

[fm6]

Hurdles? The current administration loves mergers.

You know, the Bell System breakup wasn't entirely involuntary. They could have continued to drag out procedings until they became irrelevent -- the usual procedure when the antitrust people go after a company that size. (And at the time, AT&T was the biggest company in human history.) But management wanted to get out of the local phone business. As long as AT&T remain a public utility, there were a lot of businesses they couldn't enter: computers, telecom hardware, wireless communication. They had tons of technology that they had invented (remember where Unix came from; not to mention solid state electronics, satellite communications...) but couldn't profit from directly. They were sure that if they were allowed to compete in an open market, they'd own the world.

Didn't happen, of course. It take more than good technology to be the leading player. It takes basic business skills, skills AT&T's management lost when then were a legal monopoly.

Re:Let's not slide back. Or should we?

[bfizzle]

Did anyone ever stop and think that maybe it is beneficial for these companies to merge?

It is very possible there is benefits tied to economies of scale for large companies. It is one thing when these large companies put up barriers of entries to their markets or when the government does it for them, but if these companies get this big naturally, good for them.

It's retarded how many /.er claim to be Libertarians but the second you start talking real economics they turn into protectionists. Bah I'm sorry to tell you but the Libertarian party doesn't see anything wrong with one company providing phone sevice to you as long as there is no barriers to entry for other competing firms.

Re:Let's not slide back. Or should we?

[gcaseye6677]

I don't think this will make any difference to the end user. It's not like AT&T ever presented a low cost alternative to anything. With VOIP and cell phones, SBC can never have the type of monopoly that AT&T once had.

SBC + ATT

[bryan986]

SBC has shitty service. ATT has shitty service. SBC+ATT=Distaster. I would know, Ive used both.

Great for shareholders

[Anonymous Coward]

bad for the consumer,
question is where exactly are all these consolidations heading ? what happens when there are only 2 giant companies in the whole world ? (see the recent p&g merger) do we wipe them out and start capitalism all over again or maybe we will evolve a better economic model

either way less choice is bad for the consumer

ANTI-Trust?

[gambit3]

It's one thing to say that the boeards give the go-ahead (it was expected), but this deal should REALLY get close Anti-Trust inspection.

THAT's the go-ahead I'm really curious about.

Good or bad for consumers?

[Suburbanpride]

MY two years with SBC DSl were the worst two years of my life, always down, always slow, laggy on CS. I was glad when my contract was up.

I heard ATT wireless sucked untill it was sold to cingular. If this merger goes through, I wouldn't mind it so much if it meant consumers were going to get better service, but whats the chance of that?

My guess is that this will end up with a lot of layoffs and not much benefit to anyone except for a few large shareholders.

Bell Labs

[jaymzter]

Any word on what this means for Bell Labs? Does SBC have an equivalent, or experience managing an organization like that? It would be a shame to see a legacy like that come to an end, sold or be spun off.

Re:Define "quiet"

[Suburbanpride]

IIRC, Didn't all the SBC folks deny this last week when it first popped into the news? I find It strange that they would completly deny it if it was already to the point where they wer voting on it.

Lack of choice? What we need.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am just dreaming this up as I type it.. but it would be nice if we got away from the conventional internet/telephony network and went strictly to a wireless/peer-to-peer model for service. That would send a nice "fuck you" to major companies.

Re:First this, then the world

[game kid]

SBC was one of the "Baby Bells" spun off from AT&T in 1984 for that same reason (because of AT&T's Bell System monopoly). I hope we do not revert to having one massive Bell conglomerate.

WTF is SBC Thinking & Any Linux Impact?

[vinn]

Having worked in the telco industry for about 4.5 years, I can attest that every dealing I've had with AT&T is truly an awful experience. Whereas SBC seems pretty decent. Having read about SBC's business practices, they seem smarter than this. Is this the inverse of the Qwest/USWest merger? (Another truly awful deal that I imagine Qwest regrets). Here we have the baby Bell buying the long haul carrier. Now, in this case I think it will work better than Qwest/USWest because SBC won't be inheriting a local loop cable plant. Now, everyone start counting how many times they hear the phrase, "consumers will benefit because.."

(..because we'll give the megacorporation more cash to brainwash us with.)

Anyway, what I was really wondering is what impact, if any, this might have on Linux. If I recall correctly, SBC has used Linux heavily for multiple installations. And I heard AT&T is known for having a pretty strong Unix heritage too as well as being known for developing some hardware that uses it. I wonder if there's a chance we'll see anything benefit Linux. Anyone know if SBC has ever released stuff back to the community?

Oh, and congratulations to all the workers who got to read on Slashdot about the new company they'll end up working for.