Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Failed companies with multiple disparate business lines are the easiest comparison. What's a good example of a large business with unrelated internal business units that had a successful turnaround?

Best Buy had a good turnaround. Are we like Best Buy? The airlines had successful turnarounds after multiple federal bailouts. Are we like airlines? Maybe GM, which made a turnaround after the 2008 financial crisis. Ed Whitacre was their CEO during the turnaround. Maybe we're like GM.

The haters always looking for failed companies to compare AT&T to.

AT&T is a good comparison to Sears. Retail became a commodity, and the old heads at Sears couldn't figure out a way to compete.

Sears side businesses were sold off so the executives could focus on the core business. Allstate, Discover Card, Hertz car rental were all Sears businesses at one point. Now they are all that's left.

Directory was the original cash cow and Im hearing they are looking at bringing it back.

Just like vinyl is making a comeback because people love to hold a physical album in their hands and read the liner notes, more and more people are longing for good old fashioned yellow pages. Nothing like staring at a full page attorney ad on the back cover where you can look into the attorneys eyes to gauge how trustworthy they are. There are many more examples of why print is better than online but you get the idea.

The future looks bright indeed.

Not sure why this thread morphed into Sears, but one significant thing is similiar between Sears and Toxic-T.

Sears was ruined by an egomaniac Eddie Lambert. He first ruined Kmart, and then merged with Sears and continued to ruin them. The BoD stood by and let it happen.

Toxic-T was ruined by Ratty and continued under the megalomaniac Stinky. Mega mergers enabled both to ruin the merged companies, they bought high, and then spinned off the companies selling low and keeping the majority of the debt. Debt choked T for capitol for buying spectrum and equipment to expand the network. The Bod stood by and let it happen.

The pension is grossly underfunded, thus the medical take-aways last year. The Stink gave $3B to DTV's new owners because they lost NFP Sunday Ticket. $3B could have brought the pension back - but no, the Stink must S C R E W over employees.

If the Stink could dump the pension like Verizon did back in 2012, he would, but no insurer will take it in its grossly underfunded state.

The only thing is T is not yet filed for bankruptcy. With the same incompetent BoD, even if the Stink leaves, doubtful, the next CEO will be another B O O B too. The BoD gots to go!

Sears was the epitome of retail and GM was the epitome of auto manufacturing. The world moved on because better options at better prices became available.

Both of these companies used bankruptcy to rid themselves of excessive debt and pension liabilities. They formed a new company that took the money-making business units and bought the old company's name. If you weren't paying attention, what we all Sears and GM today are actually the new company that was created as part of the bankruptcy. The corporation lives on, but it's not the same company.

What an ignorant post. AT&T is the epitome of wireless and that’s never going to change. Get a clue, man.

"If you're left in the bankrupt company"

Despite all the cranky negative people in here say, we are far far far from anything resembling going Bankrupt. I often imagine the cranky hateful people hunched over their keyboards using the last few brain cells to come up with not so creative nasty names for leadership and others, as they 'craft' nonsensical and hateful comments about the company.

I looked it up on the PBGC website. The Sears NewCo was able to stop all pension accrual and hand off payment responsibilities to the PBGC. Lump sum payments were no longer available, and PBGC only woholds federal taxes. For most pensioners their payments were below the federal limit so they did not see a reduction in benefits.

https://www.pbgc.gov/Questions-and-Answers-for-Sears-Participants

If you're left in the bankrupt company, what happens to your pension? Will it keep being funded by the new company?

AT&T Fiber is not sustainable and will need to be spun off as its own company. This will just leave mobility for AT&T to focus on generating revenue.

That’s what CenturyLink did. Split 3 ways. Moneymaker Level3/Qwest/CTL backbone side become Lumen. CTL copper kept the dying DSL company’s name. And the small Fios side became Quatum.

Wonder if the residential fiber overbuilt will work or they will go the CTL route one day in the next few years?

@wxu, specials circuits is & has been the cash cow for decades before wireless even existed.

Spin of Fiber…. Just focus on mobility.

someone should do a hostile takeover of mobility just for the spectrum and then tear it to shreds and sell it off. give stank a taste of his own medicine.

Spin off wireless, leave the copper and fiber plant with all of the debt from bungled DirecTV and Time Warner purchase. Then declare bankruptcy on the wireline side. New company becomes AT&T while the old company becomes ATTDeclineCo.

It's literally what Sears and GM did when they went bankrupt. Separated the cash cow as a NewCo, then had NewCo purchase the brand name when OldCo went bankrupt.

They might do it to sell wireless shares as a growth company and profit from it, only if government lets them.

And what would be left at that point exactly?
Why would the corporation "spin off" it's most lucrative part of the business?
Completely and utterly ridiculous.

Wireless has been the cash cow of the corporation since it's inception in 1984 when they created Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems. We always contributed more the corp every year than any other company in the corp. Many many years of large positive margins.
Wireless is still a top strategy forward. They just need to work on more easier, cost efficient customer methods. Simple rate plans for all demographics Oh how they could cut cost if customers didn't have to call in to bi--h about their bills every month.

Mobility is T's only cash cow. How would they ever survive without wireless income?

This stuff is getting annoying and unreadable find another name very sick and tired of hearing you refer to stink look in the mirror

While I think that any spin-off of wireless would be stupid and not fit in to our latest business plan, you have to remember who is CEO, and the Stink makes S T U P I D decisions all day long and will get another 8 figure bonus for shrinking the company and brokering another buy high and sell low spin off by our incompetent BoD.

So don't say a spin off is impossible while the Stink is in charge.

Nope, once WM is gone I think they will continue to look at smaller areas for cutting but I think we will end up being a good Mix of Mobility and Business, they compliment each other very well.

There would be no spinoff...maybe an acquisition (deep 6 backhaul) and Apple/Amazon buy's AT&T Mobility.

Clearly, OP, you’re a clueless individual and don’t understand our business model!