Word: allene
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Walter's departure leaves AT&T in the hands of CEO Robert Allen, whose tortured leadership of Ma Bell ignited the search for a successor. His nine-year tenure has been marked by some seemingly desperate attempts to expand beyond telephones and phone service, including the failed $6 billion acquisition of computer maker NCR Corp., the pricey buyout of McCaw Cellular ($13 billion) and some high-profile product failures. NCR, which lost billions, was spun off in last year's "trivestiture." Another castaway, the manufacturing arm now called Lucent Technologies, has been on a tear since leaving Allen's hold...
Most recently, Allen bigfooted Walter out of the way to explore a merger with SBC Communications, Inc., the largest of the regional Bells. The talks collapsed amid unofficial hints from FCC chairman Reed Hundt on the order of "Are you nuts...
...having twice demonstrated his inability to groom a successor, Allen is now part of the problem. "Bob Allen is a caretaker when the company needs a visionary," says Scott Cleland of the Legg Mason Precursor Group. "The company has lost a year and a half in setting the direction for the next millennium...
...most glaring oddity in this drama is that Allen hand picked Walter, who boasted a strong sales background but no telecom experience. Yet he was attractive because he accepted Allen's demand to stay on until January 1998. "The best people are already running large companies and do not want to wait before taking over," says an executive familiar with the search...
Within weeks of arriving, Walter told the Wall Street Journal that he hadn't joined AT&T "to be No. 2." Blocked by Allen from importing his own deputies, Walter moved aggressively, relying on his salesman style to win new allies. His extensive meetings with AT&T employees and corporate clients buttressed morale, as did his promotion of several insiders. But along the way, Walter lost sight of the only constituency that mattered: Allen. Last April after Walter, not Allen, got the call from SBC's chairman proposing merger talks, Allen escalated his criticism, telling AT&T directors that Walter...