End of an icon? SBC reported in talks to buy AT&T

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2005

NEW YORK (AFP) — In what could spell the end of an American corporate icon, SBC Communications was reported to be in talks to buy AT&T Corp.

Such an acquisition would close the books on one of the greatest corporate empires ever built, the company once known as "Ma Bell," ironically in the hands of one of its offspring.

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that the talks were being held with SBC -- one of the "Baby Bells" created in the 1980s breakup of the virtual telephone monopoly in the US -- to swallow up the remains of the company from which it was spun off.

The Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, said meetings that broke off in November resumed several weeks ago, and placed the value of the potential acquisition...