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67-756: In 2009, it was purchased by CenturyTel, which rebranded as CenturyLink (now known as Lumen Technologies ) after the merger. C. L. Brown founded Brown Telephone Company in the small town of Abilene, Kansas . The company was a landline telephone company that operated as a competitor to the Bell System . Brown acquired a number of other local telephone companies, merging them under the name United Telephone Company in 1911. In 1938, after emerging from bankruptcy , United Telephone Company became United Utilities. The company grew steadily through acquisitions and changed its name to United Telecommunications in 1972, at which time it provided local telephone service in many areas of

134-665: A grandfather clause ; new customers can only get DirecTV if Prism TV isn't available. Embarq provided wireless phone service only for business accounts; they closed residential wireless business. Embarq provided business wireless phone service throughout much of its territory. Embarq operated as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator ( MVNO ) for Sprint PCS. Embarq utilized the CDMA band, and their handsets connect primarily to Sprint PCS towers. However, Embarq handsets were also capable of roaming onto CDMA networks from other carriers. Embarq DSL customers were offered free EarthLink services until

201-496: A $ 37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom, making it the largest corporate merger in U.S. history. On September 15, 1998, the merger was consummated, forming MCI WorldCom . MCI divested itself of its "internetMCI" business to gain approval from the United States Department of Justice . On October 5, 1999, Sprint Corporation and MCI WorldCom announced a $ 129 billion merger. Had the deal been completed, it would have been

268-549: A brand better off than before. Marketing develops the awareness and associations in the memory of customers so they know (and are reminded) of brands to serve their needs. Once in a lead position, it is marketing, consistent product or service quality, sensible pricing and effective distribution that will keep the brand ahead of the pack and provide value to its owners (Sinclair, 1999:15). Corporations often rebrand in order to respond to external and/or internal issues. Firms commonly have rebranding cycles in order to stay current with

335-488: A change in a company or corporate brand that may own several sub-brands for products or companies. Rebranding became something of a fad at the turn of the millennium, with some companies rebranding several times. The rebranding of Philip Morris to Altria was done to help the company shed its negative image. Other rebrandings, such as the British Post Office 's attempt to rebrand itself as Consignia, have proved such

402-577: A company's business has changed, for example its strategic direction and industry focus, or its brand no longer fits its (new) customer base. For example, a company might rebrand so that its name works in new market it enters, for reasons of culture or language, such as to make it easier to pronounce. Rebranding is also a way to refresh an image to ensure its appeal to contemporary customers and stakeholders. What once looked fresh and relevant may no longer do so years later. As for product offerings, when they are marketed separately to several target markets this

469-513: A comprehensive lineup of DISH Network services to its customers. Discounts were available when eligible DISH Network programming was bundled with other qualifying Embarq products. In addition to the DISH Network partnership, Embarq also planned to test a TV service (tentatively called Embarq TV) in the near future. Details were scarce, but the service was rumored to have been an IPTV fiber-to-the-node service similar to AT&T 's U-verse . Testing

536-442: A failure that millions more had to be spent going back to square one. In a study of 165 cases of rebranding, Muzellec and Lambkin (2006) found that, whether a rebranding follows from corporate strategy (e.g., M&A) or constitutes the actual marketing strategy (change the corporate reputation), it aims at enhancing, regaining, transferring, and/or recreating the corporate brand equity . According to Sinclair (1999:13), business

603-488: A formal inquiry into these matters on June 26, 2002. The SEC was already investigating WorldCom for questionable accounting practices. By the end of 2003, it was estimated that the company's total assets had been inflated by about $ 11 billion. The fraud came to light just days after Andersen was convicted of obstruction of justice in the Enron scandal, a verdict that effectively put Andersen out of business. In his post-mortem of

670-526: A larger product line offering than what their names solely imply. It is also used to cater to different demographics who may be interested in different products of the same industry. In a 2018 marketing stunt , pancake restaurant chain IHOP announced a rebranding to "IHOb" to promote a line of hamburgers, but did not follow through with the rebranding. Companies can also choose to rebrand to remain relevant to its (new) customers and stakeholders. This could occur when

737-422: A letter from Congressman Edward Markey . Embarq responded to Congressman Markey's letter. Embarq later claimed that its participation with NebuAd was a trial, and that they were not currently using NebuAd for behavioral targeted advertising. Rebranding Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with

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804-417: A major driver in rebranding exercises. In a corporate context, managers can utilize rebranding as an effective marketing strategy to hide malpractices and avoid or shed negative connotations and decreased profitability. Corporations such as Philip Morris USA , Blackwater and AIG rebranded in order to shed negative images. Philip Morris USA rebranded its name and logo to Altria on January 27, 2003 due to

871-631: A primarily online retail business model. Rebranding may also occur unintentionally from emergent situations such as “ Chapter 11 corporate restructuring,” or “bankruptcy.” Chapter 11 is rehabilitation or reorganization used primarily by business debtors. It’s more commonly known as corporate bankruptcy, which is a form of corporate financial reorganization that allows companies to function while they pay off their debt. Companies such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Washington Mutual and General Motors have all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On July 1, 2009 General Motors filed for bankruptcy, which

938-406: A professionally designed brand image, "rebranding becomes a critical step for a company to be considered seriously when expanding to more aggressive markets and facing competitors with more established brand images". The ubiquitous nature of a company/product brand across all customer touchpoints makes rebranding a heavy undertaking for companies. According to the iceberg model, 80% of the impact

1005-500: A report for Rakoff, titled Restoring Trust, in which he proposed extensive corporate governance reforms, as part of an effort to "cast the new MCI into what he hoped would become a model of how shareholders should be protected and how companies should be run". The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2004 with about $ 5.7 billion in debt and $ 6 billion in cash. About half of the cash was intended to pay various claims and settlements. Previous bondholders ended up being paid 35.7 cents on

1072-651: A sentence that would have kept him imprisoned for 25 years. At time of sentencing, Ebbers was 63 years old. On September 26, 2006, Ebbers surrendered himself to the Federal Bureau of Prisons prison at Oakdale, Louisiana , the Oakdale Federal Correctional Institution , to begin serving his sentence; he was released in late 2019 for health reasons and died in February 2020, after serving 13 years of his sentence. In December 2005, Microsoft announced

1139-484: A span of eleven days during September 2008). The WorldCom bankruptcy proceedings were held before U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez , who simultaneously heard the Enron bankruptcy proceedings, which were the second-largest bankruptcy case resulting from one of the largest corporate fraud scandals. None of the criminal proceedings against WorldCom and its officers and agents were originated by referral from Gonzalez or

1206-477: A time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States , after AT&T . WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunications companies, including MCI Communications in 1998, and filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after an accounting scandal , in which several executives, including CEO Bernard Ebbers , were convicted of a scheme to inflate the company's assets. In January 2006,

1273-462: A total of 18 states and put them back in the wireless business. In late 1994 and early 1995, Sprint via Sprint Spectrum (a joint venture between Sprint and several cable companies) acquired near nationwide PCS spectrum. Later in 1995 the company began to offer wireless service under the Sprint PCS brand. On October 5, 1999, Sprint and MCI WorldCom announced a $ 129 billion merger agreement between

1340-712: A unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad , began providing long-distance telephone service shortly after the MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. FCC (Execunet II) decision late in 1978. The railroad had an extensive microwave communications system along its rights of way used for internal communications. In 1972 they began selling surplus time on that system to corporations for use as their own Private Line Network, thereby circumventing AT&T 's then-monopoly on public telephony, later expanding to fiber optic cables laid along those same rights of way subsequent to

1407-484: Is a huge international firm; however, the AIG Retirement and AIG Financial subsidiaries were left with negative connotations due to the bailout. As a result, AIG Financial Advisors and AIG Retirement respectively rebranded into Sagepoint Financial and VALIC (Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company) to shed the negative image associated with AIG. Brands often rebrand in reaction to losing market share. In these cases,

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1474-585: Is a way to protect them from being blackballed by customers in a very competitive market. Dr. Roger Sinclair, a leading expert on brand valuation and brand equity practice worldwide stated, “A brand is a resource acquired by an enterprise that generates future economic benefits.” Once a brand has negative connotations associated with it, it can only lead to decreased profitability and possibly complete corporate failure. Companies differentiate themselves from competitors by incorporating practices from changing their logo to going green. Differentiation from competitors

1541-607: Is called market segmentation . When part of a market segmentation strategy involves offering significantly different products in each market, this is called product differentiation . This market segmentation/product differentiation process can be thought of as a form of rebranding. What distinguishes it from other forms of rebranding is that the process does not entail the elimination of the original brand image. Rebranding in this manner allows one set of engineering and QA to be used to create multiple products with minimal modifications and additional expense. Another form of product rebranding

1608-412: Is hidden. The level of impact of changing a brand depends on the degree to which the brand is changed. There are several elements of a brand that can be changed in a rebranding these include the name, the logo, the legal name, and the corporate identity (including visual identity and verbal identity ). Changes made only to the company logo have the lowest impact (called a logo-swap), and changes made to

1675-410: Is important in order to attract more customers and an effective way to draw in more desirable employees. The need to differentiate is especially prevalent in saturated markets such as the financial services industry. Organisations may rebrand intentionally to shed negative images of the past. Research suggests that "concern over external perceptions of the organisation and its activities" can function as

1742-559: Is low. “The powerful first impression on new clients made possible by professional brand design often outweighs an outdated or poorly-designed image’s weak brand recognition to existing clients”. A change of image in a large corporation can have costly repercussions (updating signage in multiple locations, large quantities of existing collateral, communicating with a large number of employees, etc.), while small businesses can enjoy more mobility and implement change more quickly. While small businesses can experience growth without necessarily having

1809-626: Is the sale of a product manufactured by another company under a new name: an original design manufacturer is a company that manufactures a product, often in a location with lower operating costs, which is eventually branded by another firm for sale. Following a merger or acquisition, companies usually rebrand newly-acquired products to keep them consistent with an existing product line, such as Symantec placing acquired security and utility software under its Norton brand (itself an offshoot of flagship product Norton Antivirus ). This can also happen in reverse if an acquired brand has wider recognition in

1876-493: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . The deal was approved by federal judge Jed Rakoff in July 2003. In a sweeping consent decree , the SEC and Rakoff essentially took control of WorldCom. Rakoff appointed former SEC chairman Richard C. Breeden to oversee WorldCom's compliance with the SEC agreement. Breeden actively involved himself with the management of the company, and prepared

1943-489: The board of directors of WorldCom authorized several loans and loan guarantees to CEO Bernard Ebbers so that he would not have to sell his WorldCom shares to meet margin calls as the share price plummeted during the bursting of the dot-com bubble . By April 2002, the board had lost patience with these loans. Directors also believed that Ebbers did not seem to have a coherent strategy after the Sprint merger collapsed. On April 26,

2010-478: The fraud uncovered at Enron less than a year earlier. It would remain the largest accounting fraud ever uncovered until the exposure of Bernard Madoff 's giant Ponzi scheme in 2008. By this time, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi , the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were already looking into the matter as well. The SEC launched

2077-549: The Department of Justice lawyers. By the bankruptcy reorganization agreement, the company paid $ 750 million to the SEC in cash and stock in the new MCI, which was intended to be paid to wronged investors. Effective December 16, 2002, Michael Capellas became chairman and chief executive officer. On April 14, 2003, WorldCom changed its name to MCI , and relocated its corporate headquarters from Clinton, Mississippi , to Ashburn, Virginia . Even before then, however, employees from

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2144-494: The Enron scandal, Conspiracy of Fools , journalist Kurt Eichenwald argued that Andersen's failure to uncover WorldCom's deceit would have brought Andersen down even if it had escaped the Enron fraud unscathed. On July 21, 2002, WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history at the time (overtaken by the bankruptcies of both Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual in

2211-692: The Execunet ;II decision late in 1978. Prior attempts at offering long-distance service were not approved by the Federal Communications Commission , though the company's fax service (SpeedFAX) had been permitted. SPCC was headquartered in Burlingame, California , where Sprint still maintains a technology lab on Adrian Court. As mentioned above, SPCC was only permitted to provide Private Line service and not switched services. When MCI Communications released EXECUNET, SPCC went to court with

2278-518: The FCC to get the right to offer switched services. The SPRINT service was first marketed to six metropolitan areas, New York City , Boston , Philadelphia , Los Angeles , San Diego and Anaheim . The switches were located in Los Angeles and New York. A customer, required to have a Private Line connection to one of these switches in order to use the service, paid an access fee per Private Line. The customer

2345-603: The MCI side of the merger had taken over top executive posts, while many longtime executives from the old WorldCom were pushed out. In late 2002, the company began moving most of its operations to its campus in Ashburn, which had opened in 2000. Capellas, for instance, spent most of his time in Northern Virginia. After the name change, one executive from the old MCI said, "We're taking our company back." Another wrote in an email, "My company

2412-568: The Midwest and South. United Telecom also operated many other types of businesses. United Telecommunications United Information Systems (UIS) group acquired On-Line Systems, Inc, a company that offers business and database applications hosted on DEC time-sharing systems ca. 1980. In 1980 United Telecom launched a national X.25 data service, Uninet. To enter the long-distance voice market, United Telecom acquired ISACOMM in 1981 and US Telephone in 1984. Southern Pacific Communications Company (SPCC),

2479-652: The board voted to ask for Ebbers' resignation. Ebbers formally resigned on April 30, 2002 and was replaced by John W. Sidgmore , former CEO of UUNET . As part of his departure, Ebbers's loans were consolidated into a single $ 408.2 million promissory note . In 2003, Ebbers defaulted on the note and WorldCom foreclosed on many of his assets. Beginning modestly during mid-1999 and continuing at an accelerated pace through May 2002, Ebbers, CFO Scott Sullivan , controller David Myers and general accounting director Buford "Buddy" Yates used fraudulent accounting methods to disguise WorldCom's decreasing earnings in order to maintain

2546-415: The brand upmarket ; they may also communicate a new message a new board of directors wishes to communicate. Rebranding can be applied to new products, mature products, or even products still in development . The process can occur through a change in marketing strategy or in various other situations such as Chapter 11 corporate restructuring, union busting , or bankruptcy . Rebranding can also refer to

2613-534: The brands have become less meaningful to target audiences and, therefore, lost share to competitors. In some cases, companies try to build on any perceived equity they believe still exists in their brand. Radio Shack , for example, rebranded itself as "the Shack" in 2008 but the rebranding never realized into an increase of market share in the retail industry. By 2017, Radio Shack had significantly reduced its physical retail presence, closing over 1,000 stores and shifted to

2680-473: The combined company as "One Sprint". In April 2004, the separately traded wireless tracking stock , "PCS", was absorbed into the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) "FON" ticker symbol, Sprint's former ticker symbol. (FON stood for "Fiber Optic Network", which was Sprint's bragging right, but was also a homophone of the word "phone"). This was challenged in many lawsuits by Sprint PCS shareholders claiming

2747-599: The combined entity would be called CenturyLink . The acquisition was completed on July 1, 2009. The change to CenturyLink took place in October 2009. Embarq's coverage territory included that of the former incumbent local exchange carrier companies of Carolina Telephone & Telegraph , United Telephone Company, and Centel . Embarq provided its local service in 19 states. Embarq focused on sales of landline telephone service, high-speed internet, and DISH Network satellite TV. Embarq offered bundled services to their customers, with

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2814-469: The company's stock price. The fraud was accomplished primarily in two ways: In June 2002, a small team of internal auditors at WorldCom led by division vice president Cynthia Cooper and senior associate Eugene Morse worked together, often at night and secretly, to investigate and reveal what was ultimately discovered to be $ 3.8 billion worth of fraudulent entries in WorldCom's books. The investigation

2881-618: The company, by then renamed MCI, was acquired by Verizon Communications and was later integrated into Verizon Business . WorldCom was originally headquartered in Clinton, Mississippi before relocating to Ashburn, Virginia when it changed its name to MCI. In 1983, in a coffee shop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi , Bernard Ebbers and three other investors formed Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. based in Jackson, Mississippi and in 1985, Ebbers

2948-550: The convenience of one monthly bill and offered discounts for adding additional services. Embarq telephone service was a traditional landline Plain-old telephone system ( POTS ). Common offerings included features such as Caller ID , Call waiting , 3-way calling , Call forwarding , Voice mail , and Anonymous call rejection . Embarq offered many long-distance plans, including unlimited domestic direct-dialed calling. Depending on market and geographical region, Embarq offered several high-speed internet technologies. Embarq covered

3015-611: The dollar, in bonds and stock in the new MCI company. The previous stockholders' stock was cancelled. It had yet to pay many of its creditors, who had waited for two years for a portion of the money owed. Many of the small creditors included former employees, primarily those who were dismissed during June 2002 and whose severance and benefits were withheld when WorldCom filed for bankruptcy. Citigroup settled with Worldcom investors for $ 2.65 billion on May 10, 2004. In March 2007, 16 of WorldCom's 17 former underwriters reached settlements with investors. On March 15, 2005, Bernard Ebbers

3082-517: The formation of Myembarq.com. In February 2007, Embarq customers were required to switch to Myembarq and Embarqmail. Embarq previously worked with NebuAd , a behavioral targeting advertising company to track customers' internet browsing habits. The goal was to deliver relevant ads based on browsing history. This has raised several legal and privacy concerns, along with the other internet providers using NebuAd and related services such as Charter Communications and WOW! . Embarq's use of NebuAd prompted

3149-561: The increased brand recognition of Sprint, as a result of the successful Candice Bergen "Dime Lady" advertisement campaign. In 1983, United Telecom's Telespectrum began offering cellular telephone services in United's territories. In 1988, Telespectrum was sold to Centel for $ 763 million to fund United's purchase of an additional 30% of U.S. Sprint. This purchase gave United operational control of US Sprint. In 1993, Sprint merged with Centel, which allowed Sprint to provide local service in

3216-432: The intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers , investors , competitors , and other stakeholders . Often, this involves radical changes to a brand's logo , name, legal names, image, marketing strategy, and advertising themes. Such changes typically aim to reposition the brand/company, occasionally to distance itself from negative connotations of the previous branding, or to move

3283-540: The largest corporate merger in history. The merged company would have surpassed AT&T as the largest communications company in the United States. However, the deal floundered due to opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union on concerns that it would create a monopoly. On July 13, 2000, the boards of directors of both companies terminated the merger. Later that year, MCI WorldCom renamed itself "WorldCom". Between September 2000 and April 2002,

3350-644: The majority of their territory with ADSL at speeds of 768 kbit/s, 1.5 Mbit/s, 3.0 Mbit/s, or 5.0 Mbit/s as line conditions allowed. In September 2007 Embarq began offering 10.0 Mbit/s to customers in Las Vegas. Beginning in January 2008, Embarq released the 10 Mbit/s tier across their entire footprint. Embarq offered fiber-to-the-premises ( FTTP ) in additional markets, such as parts of Las Vegas, Nevada , North Carolina and Florida . Embarq had an established partnership with Dish Network and offered

3417-485: The market than that of the purchaser, such as Chemical Bank taking on the Chase branding after its merger with the company. Small businesses face different challenges from large corporations and must adapt their rebranding strategy accordingly. Rather than implementing change gradually, small businesses are sometimes better served by rebranding their image in a short timeframe – especially when existing brand notoriety

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3484-622: The merger with WorldCom. In February 1998, WorldCom acquired CompuServe from its parent company H&R Block . WorldCom then retained the CompuServe Network Services Division, sold its online service to America Online , and received AOL's network division, ANS. WorldCom acquired the corporate parent of Digex , Intermedia Communications in June 2001 and then sold all of Intermedia's non-Digex assets to Allegiance Telecom. On November 4, 1997, WorldCom and MCI Communications announced

3551-399: The name, legal name, and other identity elements will touch every part of the company and can result in high costs and impact on large complex organizations. Rebranding affects not only marketing material but also digital channels, URLs, signage, clothing, and correspondence. MCI WorldCom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom ) was a telecommunications company. For

3618-522: The negative connotations associated with tobacco products that could have had potential to affect the profitability of other Philip Morris brands such as Kraft Foods . In 2008, AIG's image became damaged due to its need for a Federal bailout during the financial crisis . AIG was bailed out because the United States Treasury stated that AIG was too big to fail due to its size and complex relationships with financial counterparties. AIG itself

3685-556: The new name and logo for the spin-off, which is called Embarq, were revealed. The spin-off was completed in May 2006. On October 27, 2008, Embarq announced that it would be acquired by Monroe, Louisiana -based CenturyTel , Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $ 11.6 billion, including the assumption of $ 5.8 billion in Embarq's debt. CenturyTel's CEO Glen Post became CEO of the combined company. On June 2, 2009, CenturyTel and Embarq announced that

3752-450: The stock was devalued through the ratio of 1 share of PCS stock for 1/2 share of FON stock. Sprint agreed to settle with the shareholders for $ 57.5 million. In December 2004, Sprint announced it would acquire NEXTEL Communications , renaming itself Sprint Nextel , and planned to spin off their local telephone operations. The $ 35 billion deal was completed in August 2005. In February 2006,

3819-515: The times or set themselves ahead of the competition. Companies also utilize rebranding as an effective marketing tool to hide malpractices of the past, thereby shedding negative connotations that could potentially affect profitability. Corporations such as Citigroup , AOL , American Express , and Goldman Sachs all utilize third-party vendors that specialize in brand strategy and the development of corporate identity. Companies invest valuable resources into rebranding and third-party vendors because it

3886-404: The two companies. The deal would have been the largest corporate merger in history at the time. However, the deal did not go through because of pressure from the United States Department of Justice and the European Union on concerns of it creating a monopoly. In 2003, Sprint began recombining their local telecom, long-distance, wireline, and wireless business units into a new company, marketing

3953-419: The world over acknowledges the value of brands. “Brands, it seems, alongside ownership of copyright and trademarks, computer software and specialist know-how, are now at the heart of the intangible value investors place on companies.” Companies in the 21st century may find it necessary to relook their brand in terms of its relevance to consumers and the changing marketplace. Successful rebranding projects can yield

4020-534: Was completed and Embarq/CenturyLink rolled out IPTV to its customer base in Jefferson City, MO in October 2009. CenturyTel is providing its IPTV feed to the Jefferson City switching office from its service in Columbia, MO. CenturyLink now offers its Prism TV service in select markets, which was based on Embarq TV. Legacy Embarq customers who have DISH Network can still bundle their service with CenturyLink, but only under

4087-915: Was found guilty of all charges and convicted of fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents with regulators—all related to the $ 11 billion accounting scandal. Other former WorldCom officials charged with criminal penalties in relation to the company's financial misstatements include former CFO Scott Sullivan (entered a guilty plea on March 2, 2004, to one count each of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing false statements), former controller David Myers (pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing false statements on September 27, 2002), former accounting director Buford Yates (pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges on October 7, 2002), and former accounting managers Betty Vinson and Troy Normand (both pleading guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud on October 10, 2002). On July 13, 2005, Bernard Ebbers received

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4154-928: Was fulfilled on July 10, 2009. General Motors decided to rebrand its entire structure by investing more in Chevrolet , Buick , GMC , and Cadillac automobiles. Furthermore, it decided to sell Saab Automobile and discontinue the Hummer , Pontiac , and Saturn brands. General Motors rebranded by stating they are reinventing and rebirthing the company as “The New GM” with “Fewer, stronger brands. Fewer, stronger models. Greater efficiencies, better fuel economy, and new technologies” as stated in their reinvention commercial. General Motors ' reinvention commercial also stated that eliminating brands “isn’t about going out of business, but getting down to business.” Companies like Dunkin' Donuts , Joann Fabrics , and Weight Watchers , have removed or abbreviated parts of their company names to suggest

4221-576: Was in 1992 with the $ 720 million acquisition of Advanced Telecommunications Corporation, outbidding larger rivals Sprint Corporation and AT&T to secure the deal, making WorldCom a larger player in the telecoms market. Other acquisitions included: Metromedia Communication Corp. and Resurgens Communications Group in 1993, IDB Communications Group, Inc (1994), Williams Technology Group, Inc. (1995), and MFS Communications Company (1996), and MCI in 1998. The acquisition of MFS included UUNET Technologies, Inc., which had been acquired by MFS shortly before

4288-460: Was named chief executive officer . The company acquired over 60 telecommunications firms, and in 1995, it changed its name to WorldCom. In 1989, it became a corporation as a result of a merger with Advantage Companies Inc. The company name was changed to LDDS WorldCom in 1995, and it relocated to Clinton, Mississippi . The company grew rapidly in the 1990s, after completing several mergers and acquisitions . WorldCom's first major acquisition

4355-476: Was not founded in a motel coffee shop." In May 2003, in a controversial deal, the company was given a $ 45 million no-bid contract by the United States Department of Defense to build a cellular phone service in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led reconstruction effort despite the fact that the company was not known for its expertise in building wireless networks. WorldCom agreed to pay a civil penalty of $ 2.25 billion to

4422-651: Was then billed at 2.6 cents per tenth of a minute increment. Southern Pacific Communications became part of GTE in 1982 under the name GTE Sprint. GTE had previously acquired a national X.25 provider, Telenet , in 1979. In 1986, GTE Sprint was merged with GTE Telenet, US Telecom, Uninet, and ISACOMM to form US Sprint. This was a partnership owned by GTE and United Telecom. In 1989 United Telecom purchased controlling interest in US Sprint. In 1991 United Telecom completed its acquisition of US Sprint. That same year United Telecom changed its name to Sprint due in large part to

4489-484: Was triggered by suspicious balance sheet entries discovered during a routine capital expenditure audit. Cooper notified the company's audit committee and board of directors in June 2002. The board moved swiftly, forcing Myers to resign and firing Sullivan when he refused to resign. Arthur Andersen withdrew its audit opinion for 2001. Cooper and her team had exposed the largest accounting fraud in American history, displacing

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