WSJ.com: With Shares Down, MCI Begins to Look Like a Buyout Target: Prospective buyers like BellSouth Corp., Sprint Corp. and SBC Communications Inc. have done some preliminary sniffing around, according to people familiar with the situation, though no deal is currently in the works. Since BellSouth wanted to buy AT&T last year, they might want MCI, the paper says. WSJ makes a valid argument but I don’t buy it.
What they don’t realize is that AT&T and MCI are two different beasts. MCI, has an aging network in desperate need of upgrades, and the company has been losing credibility with the corporate clients, the only real reason why people would want to buy a long distance carrier. AT&T has transformed itself into a full service network integrator which “factors in the deflationary nature of IP networks” into its game plan. MCI, is a patch work quilt of poorly performing regional offices.
Well, with a $388MM loss for it’s first quarter post BK, it looks pretty grim.
amen to that. it is just only a matter of time before their past catches up with them. they are losing customers to AT&T left right and center