The following information is attributable to AT&T:
AT&T Inc.* (NYSE:T) will webcast a presentation by John Stephens, AT&T Inc. senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, at the Oppenheimer Virtual Technology, Internet & Communications Conference on Tuesday, August 11, 2020. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. ET.
The webcast will be available live and for replay at AT&T Investor Relations. Viewers should start the webcast a few minutes before the planned start time in case the conference schedule changes.
Why you should care
AT&T is going through a lot of changes, and I think that for the most part, they’re for the better. The company has been evolving steadily for the last 15 years. Before that, it didn’t exist.
What do you mean it didn’t exist?
Well let’s back up, since I opened up that can of worms. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company was formed in 1885 as an evolution of the Bell Telephone Company. Bell was, of course, the first company to spread telephone technology across the USA. In the roughly 100 years after that, AT&T grew into perhaps the world’s first telecommunications conglomerate. Along the way, they brought innovation after innovation. They innovated so much, they innovated themselves out of business.
By the 1970s, AT&T’s power in the marketplace was a cause of great concern from the federal government. Lawsuits followed, and in 1984, The company known as AT&T was split into eight companies. AT&T itself retained long distance, manufacturing, and research. The other seven companies handled local phone service.
One of those seven companies was known originally as Southwestern Bell.
The reconstitution of AT&T
Southwestern Bell, later known as SBC, continued to grow powerful while AT&T grew weak. SBC started absorbing the local phone companies, eventually buying four of the seven. Two of them went on to become Verizon, by the way, and one became CenturyLink.
And then, having grown ever more powerful, having absorbed Cingular (formerly known as AT&T Wireless), SBC made a big move. They bought AT&T, or what was left of it. A new company was formed in 2005, also called AT&T, and that’s who we’re talking about today.
AT&T’s power in the marketplace
AT&T is obviously a massive player in the marketplace and you don’t need me to tell you that. They operate the nation’s second largest cell phone network. They offer local phone service and internet. And, of course, they operate the world’s largest pay television service. And they own a suite of content creators ranging from HBO to CNN. So, AT&T is big business. And that’s what Mr. Stephens will be talking about at this conference. These webcasts are free. Not every one ends up being super-interesting, but if you happen to have nothing better to do or if you own any AT&T stock, it’s worth a listen.
