WorldCom Splits In Two; Fed Business Goes With High-Growth Company

By Jennifer Freer, Staff Writer


NOV. 2 ? WorldCom Inc. of Clinton, Miss., is planning to split its business into two separately traded tracking stocks, WorldCom and MCI, with the federal business going with the WorldCom company, officials announced Nov. 1.


WorldCom will concentrate on high-growth markets such as data, Internet, hosting, international businesses, wireless and long-distance and local voice telecom services for businesses.


MCI will include the consumer, small business, wholesale long-distance voice and dial-up Internet access operations.


This split will enable the company to provide its customers with better service, company officials said. Government, business and consumer customers will not be affected by the split, they said.


The plan has been approved by the board of directors, and shareholders will receive a 100 percent interest in MCI. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2001.


"Realigning WorldCom's structure in this way will enable the respective businesses to achieve greater management and resource focus to execute business strategies that work most effectively for each," said Bernard Ebbers, WorldCom president and chief executive officer.


Ebbers will remain the company's president and CEO. MCI's management structure will be announced in the coming weeks.


The WorldCom announcement follows close on the heels of AT&T Corp.'s Oct. 26 announcement that it plans to create four new companies by 2002 to better serve specific markets, with the government business falling under the new AT&T Business company.