---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <6459cae4-c6e1-447b-b32c-405855aa6e67@googlegroups.com> Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:38:46 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Verizon CEO considering merger options Bloomberg News reported that Verizon Communications Inc. is considering merger possibilities to reset the course of the company given the fast-changing structure of the industry, and would be open to talks with Comcast Corp., Walt Disney Co. or CBS Corp., said Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam. Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, is seeking new sources of growth as the mobile-phone business matures and its new media ventures take time to gain traction. As the company upgrades its infrastructure to provide fifth-generation, or 5G, services, Comcast's fiber assets in particular would help handle the surge in capacity demands. And McAdam would entertain deal talks with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts to achieve those goals, he said in an interview Tuesday at Bloomberg's New York headquarters. full article at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-18/verizon-s-ceo-is-open-to-deal-talks-from-comcast-to-disney?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social Personal note: Nothing was said about anti-trust concerns or the concentration of too much economic power into a single company, other than mergers are possible with Trump in the White House. (Anyone remember that we broke up the old Bell System because it was too big, despite it being tightly regulated?) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20170422002222.GA31411@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:22:22 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Re: Verizon CEO considering merger options On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 10:38:46AM -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > (Anyone remember that we broke up the old Bell System because it was > too big, despite it being tightly regulated?) "We" didn't break up the Bell System. Mutual fund managers did. The former AT&T Corporation was the first company in American history whose stock was distributed so widely that, for practical purposes, nobody owned it. Think about it: if the widow across the street has ten shares, and the orphan across town has 10 shares, and that pattern is repeated across the country, then no one is in charge. The company was responsible only to itself, and so long as it paid a reliable dividend, it only had to deal with 51 rubber-stamp regulators. The corporation turned inward, and became the most vicious, inbred, and hidebound monopoly anyone had ever seen. It wasn't until the rise of the mutual fund managers as a significant economic force (roughly, the 1970's) that enough AT&T stock was concentrated in their hands for them to demand significant change. Their choice was obvious: the other companies where they had investments were spending fortunes on long-distance charges, and they voted their pocketbooks, and forced the old-line management at AT&T to agree to the consent decree which created the Baby Bells and the oligopoly which now dominates the telecommunications world. The rest is history. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <759befa7-dbdf-47e5-91db-c177c3797ff2@googlegroups.com> Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:32:09 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Verizon vacates Philadelphia's Bell Atlantic tower, rival Comcast takes the space The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that telecom giant Verizon is poised to vacate the Center City office tower built for its predecessor company, Bell Atlantic Corp., where rival Comcast has become the dominant tenant. The red granite Bell Atlantic Tower at 1717 Arch St. was built in the early 1990s to house the regional phone-network operator's corporate headquarters, though those operations moved to New York around the time of the company's 1997 merger with NYNEX Corp. full detailed article at: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/real_estate/commercial/verizon-comcast-bell-atlantic-tower-three-logan-brandywine.html Note--Bell already gave up its handsome building at 1835 Arch Street which was converted to luxury apartments; and its 1960s building at One Parkway, building now houses municipal offices for the City of Philadelphia. ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sat, 22 Apr 2017