AT&T NAMES OUTSIDER AS CHIEF : SELECTION DRAWS NEGATIVE REACTION.Byline: Mark Landler Mark Aurel Landler (born October 26, 1965 in Stuttgart, Germany[1]) is an American journalist who has been the European economic correspondent of The New York Times, based in Frankfurt, Germany, since July 2002[2]. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times AT&T reached far outside its world of telephone wires Wednesday to name John Walter
John Walter (1738/9 - November 17, 1812), founder of , chairman of printing giant R.R. Donnelley & Sons, as its president and future corporate leader. Walter, who is 49 and spent his entire career at Donnelley, will succeed Robert Allen as chief executive and chairman of AT&T in 1998, two years earlier than Allen had originally planned. For industry analysts and executives who had avidly followed AT&T's three-month search for a president, Walter's appointment was a bolt from the blue and a distinct letdown. As the nation's largest telephone company and the fifth-largest U.S. corporation, many executives expected AT&T to choose a name-brand chief executive from a major company. Instead, AT&T settled on the little-known head of a company that prints books, catalogs, magazines and - in its sole direct connection to AT&T's line of business - telephone directories. Allen, 61, acknowledged that Walter lacked the ``marquee value'' of some of the 30 top candidates in the running, but noted, ``He's transformed a large, old-line company challenged by new technology and changing markets into a tough global competitor.'' For his part, Walter said he was not daunted daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin by the prospect of moving from a $6.5 billion company to a $50 billion colossus Colossus - (A huge and ancient statue on the Greek island of Rhodes). 1. tr.v. de·mor·al·ized, de·mor·al·iz·ing, de·mor·al·iz·es 1. To undermine the confidence or morale of; dishearten: an inconsistent policy that demoralized the staff. and downsized work force of 127,700. ``There's complexity in both businesses,'' he said in a joint interview with Allen. Shareholders weren't impressed. AT&T's shares lost almost 5 percent of their value Wednesday, dipping $1-7/8, to close at $37-7/8. Several analysts criticized Walter's selection, saying he lacked crucial experience in three key areas: telecommunications technology, consumer marketing and or government regulation. ``At a time when AT&T needs a telecommunications executive, they go for a person whose experience is in corporate restructuring and cost containment cost containment, n the features of a dental benefits program or of the administration of the program designed to reduce or eliminate certain charges to the plan. ,'' said Kenneth Leon, an analyst at Chicago Corp. ``On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd call this choice a 1.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) WALTER |
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