Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WORLDCOM
The WorldCom
story
1983:
Introduction of person’s
Bernie Ebbers, a
profile.
former basketball
coach from
Edmonton, buys a
long-distance resale
service that he names
Long-Distance
Discount Services
Bernie Ebbers
(LDDS)
1985:
Ebbers becomes chief
Worldcom’s creation….
• Early 1990s:
Ebbers creates WorldCom, combining
LLDS with two smaller companies -
MFS Communications and UUNet.
• 1994:
LLDS becomes one of the top four
long-distance companies in the U.S.
• 1995:
WorldCom is fined $50,000 US and
ordered to repay $70,000 US in
investigative costs for its role in gathering
employee campaign contributions for a
candidate running for the Mississippi
Public Service Commission in
1991.
Company’s journey….
• 1995-2000:
WorldCom buys more than 60
companies, often using its own
soaring share price to help fund the
acquisitions.
Create Big History……..
• 1997:
WorldCom takes over MCI
Communications for $37
billion US - at the time the
largest takeover in American
corporate history.
Famous personality in
Forbes News..
• 1999:
Forbes magazine cites Bernie
Ebbers's fortune at $1.4
billion US.
• 2000:
U.S. communications
regulators veto WorldCom's
$129-billion US offer for Sprint
Corp., which WorldCom had hoped
would add wireless and local phone
assets to the mix.
Big Loss For Company….
• Fall 2000:
WorldCom warns its earnings
will fall short of estimates by
40 per cent, and that 2001
earnings would be even lower.
Ebbers falls into enormous
personal debt as he'd
pledged his WorldCom shares
as collateral for loans.
WorldCom's board loans him
$375 million US to pay off his
• Secured loans from
WorldCom to fund personal
investments including a $100
million Canada ranch, $658
million in Mississippi
timberlands and a $14
million Georgia shipyard