telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (10/27/89)
In an effort to streamline decisionmaking, the directors of Ameritech dissolved the boards of directors of the five Bell operating companies under its jurisdiction at a meeting held last week, I have learned. The directors of Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Bell will step down on the day they would have stood for re-election, Ameritech spokesman Mike Brand said Wednesday. In the case of Illinois Bell, that date is February 22, 1990. The five Bell boards are vestiges of the old days, when telephone companies were tightly regulated utilities with partial public ownership, Brand said. For example, when AT&T was the *majority* owner in the Bells, there were still a few minority stockholders. Illinois Bell for example was 97 percent owned by AT&T, and 3 percent by private individuals. Ameritech now feels the individual boards are cumbersome and not needed because the Bell companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech, which is based here in Chicago, and don't have their own shareholders. The dual system of boards created fractured reporting responsibilities for executives who were directly supervised by the Board of Directors of one of the Bell companies; Ameritech's senior management and the Ameritech Board of Directors. Brand explained that dissolving the Bell company boards is 'part of an effort started in July to create a structure in the company that promotes integration, streamlines decision making and speeds implementation of decisions.....' In July, Ameritech announced a realignment of corporate executives and reporting lines in an effort to create a more competitive corporate structure. At last Wednesday's meeting, the decision to dissolve the boards of the other non-Bell subsidiaries was also made. In the case of the non-Bell companies which are subsidiaries of Ameritech, those boards are comprised entirely of inside managers, and will be dissolved by the end of this year. No Bell company executives are affected by the move and the companies' operations are not affected in any way. Illinois Bell directors who will be stepping down include: William Bunn III, chairman of Marine Bank, Springfield, IL. Franklin Cole, chairman of Croesus Corporation. Dr. John Corbally, retired president of the MacArthur Foundation. Daryl Grisham, president of Parker House Sausage Company. Alan Hallene, president of Montgomery Elevator, Rockford, IL Donald Nordlund, chairman of Multi-Fresh Systems. Barbara Proctor, chairman of Proctor & Gardner Advertising. Arthur Velasquez, president of Azteca Foods. Patrick Townson
langz@asylum.sf.ca.us (Lang Zerner) (10/28/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0475m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 475, message 1 of 8 >In an effort to streamline decisionmaking, the directors of Ameritech >dissolved the boards of directors of the five Bell operating companies >...the Bell companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech Wow! I never knew this. Ameritech owns every basic service provider in the country? Why isn't this in violation of antitrust laws? How is it any different than before, when AT&T had a big "monopoly" (I hope there's *some* difference!). Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" [Moderator's Note: Ameritech does NOT 'own every basic service provider in the country.' They own FIVE telephone companies in the midwest part of the United States. In the past, AT&T owned almost two dozen telcos across the country operating under the 'Bell' name. And at the time of divestiture, no one said *how* AT&T had to go about divesting itself; just that it had to. In other words, AT&T could have created one large company called "Bell Telephone", and as long as it was separated from AT&T it would have met the requirements of the decree, although it is likely such a new entity soon would itself have been sued for anti-trust violations. GTE owns more telephone operating companies than Ameritech, or for that matter, any of the other newly formed holding companies previously part of AT&T. PT]