Today's Wall Street Journal (05/11/00):
On the Editorial Page (p. A26), under ASIDES:
A Point of Disclosure: "AT&T is upset for understandable reasons about the May 1 article, "AT&T's Wireless Debacle," by George Gilder and Richard Vigilante. It is particularly upset that the article failed to disclose Mr. Gilder's long-held investment, now worth some $500,000, in Qualcomm, which pioneered the CDMA wireless technology, competing with the TDMA chosen by AT&T. Mr. Gilder's investment is a matter of public record, mentioned for example in a Boston Globe profile in March, and we are sure the views expressed in the article are responsible for the investment rather than the other way around. Yet AT&T clearly has a point. Not including this in the article dealing directly with the technological battle was, given contemporary sensibilities, a lapse of judgement by our writer and and oversight by us.
This does not affect the substantive points made in the article, and we will as a matter of course also make appropriate space available to AT&T for its response to them."
Good. I hope whoever writes the rebuttal article discloses how much stock they own in AWE, too.
Now, here's the good part: On page B6, under "Digits", we see the following:
Letter From Mike: "C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T Corp's chairman, has sent a letter to employees explaining why the company lowered its earnings guidance-sending its stock falling-only a week after conducting a high-profile public offering of its wireless unit.
The letter has touched a nerve with many of the 145,000 employees, especially those who invested thousands of dollars in the wireless IPO. After initially rising 8%, wireless shares have sagged since AT&T lowered its earnings forecast May 2. Even many of those who didn't buy wireless shares suffered, since AT&T's primary stock has fallen 25% since last week.
"Don't let the short-term market reaction distract you," Mr. Armstrong wrote in his electronic missive. Still, he acknowledges that the company's problems are real. One of them, "the inevitable decline of our stand-alone long-distance business," he wrote, "is even more immediate than we once thought."
Mr. Armstrong added that the pressures for continued cost cutting have become even more intense, though he pointed out that AT&T's growth businesses remain at or above targets.
Paul Winters, an employee who purchased $54,000 worth of shares of the wireless stock, says his hopes for a quick return have disappeared. "Mr. Armstrong seemed like he was apologizing in the letter, but you can tell that many people are upset," says Mr. Winters."
You gotta love it. Maybe George Gilder knew what he was talking about after all. |
