The One Behind It All Chapter 31

When it comes to Lucent, which has an irregular red circle as its logo, people outside the telecommunications industry are not familiar with it, but the scientific research institution under it - Bell Labs is famous. 11 Nobel Prize winners. Vital technologies such as transistors, UNIX systems, C++ language, and mobile phones all came from Bell Labs.

The predecessor of Lucent Technologies was the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) established in February 1885. After nearly a century of development, AT&T has continued mergers and acquisitions. By 1983, it had assets of US$160 billion and 1 million employees. It occupied 80% of the US telephone market and became an unparalleled giant in the telecommunications industry.

AT&T's monopoly has caused concern for the U.S. government. At this time, it coincided with the rise of neoliberal economic thought in the United States. Under the influence of this trend of thought, and at that time more than 1,000 small companies in the United States had been dissatisfied with AT&T. Eventually, the U.S. Department of Justice and the federal government implemented antitrust laws, and AT&T was forced to formally dissolve in 1984.

On January 1, 1984, AT&T was decomposed. The new AT&T retained Western Electric, Long Lines and International Corporation. The original 22 regional operating companies were completely separated from AT&T and reorganized into 7 regional companies. After the breakup, AT&T continued to be keen on acquiring businesses. Under the direction of CEO Robert Allen, AT&T acquired National Cash Register (NCR), which made computers, in 1991, and McCaw Cellular Communications, which made cellular phones, in 1994.

However, the merger of large-scale technology assets did not bring profits to AT&T. On the contrary, it often lost sight of one because it had to take care of various conflicting businesses. In this state, on September 20, 1995, AT&T announced its disintegration again. The reorganized AT&T includes the core part of the original company, its $53 billion long-distance and cellular phone businesses. The network division of the original company, the former Western Electric Company that manufactured switching equipment, was sold to shareholders. This was Lucent Technologies, which was established on October 1, 1995. Bell Labs has since been placed under Lucent.