The fall of a corporate queen

摘要

From the very first words spoken over a telephone in 1876 by its inventor Alexander Graham Bell-"Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you!"-AT & T always wanted to have its own way. And for much of its 128-year history, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company got it. First, as a brash start-up that won over 600 patent lawsuits in its first 18 years, then as a cut-throat competitor that pushed the limits of lawfulness to consolidate America's telecoms market and finally, until 1984, as a government-sanctioned monopoly. But the modern era has been less generous, as the business behind AT&T'S central activity of connecting long-distance calls crumbled. This week, SBC, one of the "baby bells" that was spun out of the company as part of a court-ordered break-up in 1984, acquired "Ma Bell", as AT & T is known, for around $16 billion, ending its reign as an independent firm. The new owner may yet adopt the famous brand as its corporate name. But the firm born in the 19th century, and which dominated the 20th, failed to survive long into the 21st.