AT&T
[13] The 1982 United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit resulted in the breakup of the Bell System, with AT&T giving up ownership of its local operating subsidiaries.By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999, when Zeglis assumed the positions of chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless, AT&T was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (lasting through 2015).[36] After this purchase, SBC adopted the better-known AT&T name and brand, with the original AT&T Corporation still existing as the long-distance landline subsidiary of the merged company.[56][57][58][59][60][61] On November 20, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim filed a lawsuit for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division to block the merger with Time Warner, saying it "will harm competition, result in higher bills for consumers and less innovation.[65][66] Three months after completing the acquisition, AT&T reorganized into four main units: Communications, including consumer and business wireline telephony, AT&T Mobility, and consumer entertainment video services; WarnerMedia, including Turner cable television networks, Warner Bros. film and television production, and HBO; AT&T Latin America, consisting of wireless service in Mexico and video in Latin America and the Caribbean under the Vrio brand; and Advertising and Analytics, since renamed Xandr.[72] On September 12, 2017, it was reported that AT&T planned to launch a new cable TV-like service for delivery over-the-top over its own or a competitor's broadband network sometime the following year.[81] In September 2019, activist investor Elliott Management revealed that it had purchased $3.2 billion of AT&T stock (a 1.2% equity interest), and had pushed for the company to divest assets to improve its share value.[84] As a result of planned cost cutting programs, the sale of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was proposed, but ultimately abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic-related growth in the video gaming industry, as well as a positive reception to upcoming DC Comics, Lego Star Wars, and Harry Potter titles from fans and critics.[90] Electronic Arts, which was a bidder in the proposed sale of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, purchased the mobile gaming studio Playdemic from WBIE for US$1.4 billion in June 2021.[98] This hack is the first cyber incident in which the Justice Department has asked a company to delay filing a disclosure with the SEC because of potential national security or public safety concerns.[5][106] The company said that it moved to gain better access to its customers and operations throughout the world, and to the key technology partners, suppliers, innovation and human resources needed as it continues to grow, domestically and internationally.[128] AT&T's Executive Vice President of Federal Relations, Tim McKone, said that the bill's "much needed institutional reforms will help arm the agency with the tools to keep pace with the Internet speed of today's marketplace."[129] In May 2018, reports emerged that AT&T made 12 monthly payments between January and December 2017 to Essential Consultants, a company set up by President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, totaling $600,000.[134][136] A spokesperson for AT&T said that the company had been contacted by the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller regarding the payments, and had provided all the information requested in November and December 2017.[139] While it has expressed support for LGBTQ causes, AT&T has also donated to sponsors of anti-transgender legislation in several US states, especially those predominantly Republican-governed, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Florida.[162] In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged the class action lawsuit Hepting v. AT&T, which alleged that AT&T had allowed agents of the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor phone and Internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.The motion to dismiss, which invoked the State Secrets Privilege, had argued that any court review of the alleged partnership between the federal government and AT&T would harm national security.'"[170] On August 22, 2007, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell confirmed that AT&T was one of the telecommunications companies that assisted with the government's warrantless wire-tapping program on calls between foreign and domestic sources.[171] On November 8, 2007, Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, told Keith Olbermann of MSNBC that all Internet traffic passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's San Francisco office – to which only employees with National Security Agency clearance had access.[174] In January 2008, reports emerged that the company planned to begin filtering all Internet traffic which passed through its network for intellectual property violations.[175] Media commentators speculated that if this plan was implemented, it would have led to a mass exodus of subscribers from AT&T,[176] although Internet traffic of non-subscribers may have gone through the company's network anyway.[177] In 2009 AT&T was accused by community media groups of discriminating against local public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV channels, by "impictions that will severely restrict the audience".[178] In June 2010, a hacker group known as Goatse Security discovered a vulnerability within AT&T that could allow anyone to uncover email addresses belonging to customers of AT&T 3G service for the Apple iPad.The specific accusations state that AT&T "violated the False Claims Act by facilitating and seeking federal payment for IP Relay calls by international callers who were ineligible for the service and sought to use it for fraudulent purposes.The complaint further contends that AT&T continued to employ this system even with the knowledge that it facilitated the use of IP Relay by fraudulent foreign callers, which accounted for up to 95 percent of AT&T's call volume.The government's complaint alleges that AT&T improperly billed the TRS Fund for reimbursement of these calls and received millions of dollars in federal payments as a result.[189] On April 28, 2015, AT&T announced that it had fired Aaron Slator, President of Content and Advertising Sales, for sending text messages critics described as racist.The SEC alleged that beginning in early 2016 these executives leaked key information to Wall Street analysts in order to manipulate revenue forecasts for the company.[202][203] In October 2022, AT&T agreed to pay a $23 million fine to resolve a federal criminal investigation into the company's efforts to unlawfully influence former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael J.[205] Former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza, who is set to go on trial in September 2024 for the alleged bribery scheme, described AT&T's quid pro quo relationship with Madigan in an email to an AT&T employee as "the friends and family plan.
AT&T CorporationSouthwestern BellAT&T (disambiguation)Whitacre TowerDallasPublicTraded asS&P 100S&P 500TelecommunicationsBellSouthAmeritechPacific TelesisDallas, TexasWilliam KennardchairmanJohn StankeyOperating incomeNet incomeTotal assetsTotal equityDivisionsAT&T CommunicationsAT&T Latin AmericaSubsidiariesDirecTVTPG Inc.FirstNetCricket WirelessDowntown Dallasthird largest telecommunications company by revenuethird largest wireless carrier in the United StatesVerizonT-MobileFortune 500St. Louisthe original American Telephone & Telegraph CompanyBell Telephone CompanyAlexander Graham BellmonopolyBell SystemUnited States v. AT&Tantitrustbreakup of the Bell SystemRegional Bell Operating CompaniesBellSouth CorporationCingular WirelessAT&T WirelessAT&T MobilityTime WarnerDiscovery, Inc.Warner Bros. Discoverylong-distance divisionHistory of AT&TThomas WatsonGardiner Greene HubbardKingsbury CommitmentUnited States v. AT&T (1982)regulators broke up the AT&T monopolySprintMetromediaPacific Telesis GroupAmeritech CorporationC. Michael ArmstrongJohn ZeglisDow Jones Industrial AverageLatin AmericaAmérica MóvilFrontier CommunicationsIusacellNII HoldingsAT&T MexicoAT&T EntertainmentMakan DelrahimUnited States Department of Justice Antitrust DivisionRichard J. LeonWarner Bros.cloud-basedDirecTV NowU-verseHBO Maxfixed telephoneactivist investorElliott ManagementAT&T TVRandall L. StephensonWarner Bros. Interactive EntertainmentCOVID-19 pandemicDC ComicsStar WarsHarry PotterCrunchyrollFunimationTPG CapitalAstound BroadbandWarnerMediaElectronic ArtsFox EntertainmentAppNexusMicrosoftSnowflake Inc.attackSalt Typhoonadvanced persistent threatChinese governmentSBC CommunicationsRegional Bell Operating CompanyUS WestCenturyLinkLumen TechnologiesWoodbury TelephoneSouthern New England TelephoneBaby BellsWisconsinCenturyTelPacific TelecomNew EnglandFairPointWest VirginiaSan AntoniodowntownOne AT&T PlazaAT&T Advertising SolutionsAsia PacificWorld Economic Forumboard of directors