AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

holding company headquartered at

Whitacre Tower Whitacre Tower, also known as One AT&T Plaza, and formerly known as One Bell Plaza, is a 37-story high-rise in Downtown Dallas, built adjacent to the Akard Street Mall in 1984. The building is the headquarters for AT&T and Southwestern Bell T ...

Downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

, Texas. It is the world's third largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest wireless carrier in the United States behind

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

and

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

. As of 2023, AT&T was ranked 32nd on the ''Fortune'' 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations, with revenues of $122.4 billion. The modern company to bear the AT&T name began its history as the American District Telegraph Company, formed in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

in 1878. After expanding services to Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas through a series of mergers, it became the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1920. Southwestern Bell was a subsidiary of the original American Telephone & Telegraph Company, itself founded in 1885 as a subsidiary of the original

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company was the initial corporate entity from which the Bell System originated to build a continental conglomerate and monopoly in telecommunication services in the United States and Canada. The company was organized in Bost ...

founded by

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

in 1877. In 1899, AT&T became the parent company after the American Bell Telephone Company sold its assets to its subsidiary. During most of the 20th century, AT&T had a near

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

on phone service in the United States through its

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the AT&T Corporation, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America fo ...

of local operating companies. This led to AT&T's common nickname of "Ma Bell". The company was formally rebranded as

AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

in 1994. The 1982

Modification of Final Judgment In United States telecommunication law, the Modification of Final Judgment (MFJ) is the August 24, 1982 consent decree concerning the antitrust lawsuit of January 14, 1949, ''United States vs. Western Electric Company and American Telephone and Tel ...

concluded the 1949 anti-trust lawsuit ''United States vs. Western Electric Company and American Telephone and Telegraph Company'', and resulted in the

breakup of the Bell System The Bell System held a virtual monopoly over telephony infrastructure in the United States since the early 20th century until January 8, 1982. This divestiture of the Bell Operating Companies was initiated in 1974 when the United States Departme ...

, in which AT&T divested ownership of its local operating subsidiaries. The regional operating companies were reorganized in seven

Regional Bell Operating Companies A Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) was a corporate entity created as result of the antitrust lawsuit by the United States Department of Justice against the Western Electric Company and American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 194 ...

(RBOCs), commonly called "Baby Bells", including Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). The latter changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. SBC acquired fellow Baby Bells

Pacific Telesis Pacific Telesis Group (PacTel) was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies, sometimes also referred to as "RBOCs" or "Baby Bells", created in 1983 in preparation of the breakup of AT&T Corporation. Pacific Telesis was the holding comp ...

in 1997 and

Ameritech AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation (and, before that, American Information Technologies Corporation), was an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the ...

in 1999. In 2005, SBC purchased its former parent AT&T Corp. and took on the latter's branding, history, and stock trading symbol, as well as a version of its iconic logo. The merged entity, naming itself AT&T Inc., launched on December 30, 2005. The newly merged and renamed AT&T Inc. acquired

BellSouth Corporation BellSouth, LLC (stylized as ''BELLSOUTH'' and formerly known as BellSouth Corporation) was an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after ...

in 2006, the last independent Baby Bell, making the two companies' joint venture

Cingular Wireless AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. Formed in April 2000 as Cingular Wireless LLC, It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless serv ...

(which had itself acquired

AT&T Wireless AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. Formed in April 2000 as Cingular Wireless LLC, It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless serv ...

in 2004) a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. Cingular was then rebranded as

AT&T Mobility AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and Trade name, marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. Formed in April 2000 as Cingular Wireless LLC, It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, AT&T Inc. and provide ...

. AT&T Inc. also acquired

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

in 2016, with the proposed merger confirmed on June 12, 2018 and the aim of making AT&T Inc. the largest and controlling shareholder of Time Warner, which it then rebranded as WarnerMedia in 2018. The company later withdrew its equity stake in WarnerMedia in 2022 and merged it with

Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

to create

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Outline of entertainment, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It was formed from WarnerMedi ...

, divesting itself of its media arm. The current AT&T reconstitutes most of the former Bell System, and includes four of the seven "Baby Bells" along with the original AT&T Corp., including the long-distance division.

History

Origin and growth (1877–1981)

AT&T was founded as Bell Telephone Company by

, Thomas Watson and

Gardiner Greene Hubbard Gardiner Greene Hubbard (August 25, 1822 – December 11, 1897) was an American lawyer, financier, and community leader. He was a founder and first president of the National Geographic Society; a founder and the first president of the Bell Teleph ...

after Bell's patenting of the telephone in 1875. By 1881, Bell Telephone Company had become the American Bell Telephone Company. One of its subsidiaries was the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), established in 1885. On December 30, 1899, AT&T acquired the assets of its parent American Bell Telephone, becoming the new parent company. AT&T established a network of local telephone subsidiaries in the United States. AT&T and its subsidiaries held a phone service

, authorized in 1913 by government authorities with the

Kingsbury Commitment The Kingsbury Commitment is a 1913 out-of-court settlement of the United States government's antitrust challenge against the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) for the company's then-growing vertical monopoly in the telecommunications ...

, throughout most of the twentieth century. This monopoly was known as the

, and during this period, AT&T was also known by the nickname ''Ma Bell''.

Breakup and reformation (1982–2004)

In 1982, U.S. regulators broke up the AT&T monopoly, requiring AT&T to divest its local subsidiaries, which it did by grouping them into seven individual companies. These new companies were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies, or more informally, Baby Bells. Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC) was one of the companies created by the breakup of AT&T Corp. (Later renamed SBC Communications Inc.) AT&T continued to operate long-distance services but faced increasing competition from competitors such as MCI and

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

. AT&T soon started a series of acquisitions, including the 1987 acquisition of

Metromedia Metromedia, Inc. (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio station, radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in ...

mobile business and the acquisition of several cable companies in the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, AT&T acquired several other telecommunications companies, including two Baby Bells (

Pacific Telesis Group Pacific Telesis Group (PacTel) was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies, sometimes also referred to as "RBOCs" or "Baby Bells", created in 1983 in preparation of the breakup of AT&T Corporation. Pacific Telesis was the holding compa ...

and

Ameritech Corporation AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation (and, before that, American Information Technologies Corporation), was an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the ...

), while selling its cable business. In early 1997 C. Michael Armstrong was named CEO, and Armstrong appointed John Zeglis as president later in that same year. By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999, when Zeglis assumed the positions of chairman and CEO of

, AT&T was part of the

Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indice ...

(lasting through 2015). Zeglis ended his service as president of AT&T in 2001 and resigned from his positions in AT&T Wireless in 2004.

Purchase of former parent and acquisitions (2005–2013)

On November 18, 2005, SBC Communications purchased its former parent, AT&T Corporation for $16 billion. After this purchase, SBC adopted the better-known AT&T name and brand, with the original AT&T Corporation still existing as the long-distance landline subsidiary of the merged company. The current AT&T Inc. claims the original AT&T Corporation's history (dating to 1877) as its own, but retains SBC's pre-2005 corporate structure and stock price history. As well, all SEC filings before 2005 are under SBC, not AT&T. AT&T made an attempt in 2011 to purchase

for a $39 billion stock and cash offer. The bid was withdrawn after the takeover company was faced with significant regulatory and legal hurdles, along with heavy resistance from the U.S. government. As per the original acquisition agreement, T-Mobile received $3 billion in cash as well as access to $1 billion worth of AT&T-held wireless spectrum. In September 2013, AT&T announced it would expand into

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

through a collaboration with

América Móvil América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in the world in terms of equity subscribers, as well as one of the largest corpor ...

. In December 2013, AT&T announced plans to sell its Connecticut wireline operations to Stamford-based

Frontier Communications Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications pr ...

. AT&T acquired

on December 29, 2006, following

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

approval. The transaction consolidated ownership and management of Cingular Wireless. AT&T rebranded its wireless retail stores from Cingular to AT&T in January 2007.

Recent developments (2013–present)

In late 2014, AT&T purchased Mexican cellular carrier

Iusacell AT&T Mexico, S.A.U. (formerly known as Iusacell and Nextel Mexico), also known as AT&T Mexico Wireless and AT&T Mexico Mobility, is a Mexican mobile telephone operator and subsidiary of AT&T. AT&T Mexico is headquartered in Mexico City. Its mobil ...

, and two months later, it purchased the Mexican wireless business of

NII Holdings NII Holdings, Inc. (formerly Nextel International) was an American holding company that, through its subsidiary Nextel Telecomunicações Ltda., provided mobile communications services under the Nextel brand in Latin America. NII last operated 3G ...

. AT&T merged the two companies to create

AT&T Mexico AT&T Mexico, S.A.U. (formerly known as Iusacell and Nextel Mexico), also known as AT&T Mexico Wireless and AT&T Mexico Mobility, is a Mexican mobile telephone operator and subsidiary of AT&T. AT&T Mexico is headquartered in Mexico City. Its mobil ...

. In July 2015, AT&T purchased

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

for $48.5 billion. AT&T then announced plans to converge its existing U-verse home internet and IPTV brands with

, to create AT&T Entertainment. On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced a deal to buy

for $108.7 billion in an effort to increase its media holdings. On November 20, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim filed a lawsuit for the

United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over federal criminal antitrust prosecutions, and it shares jurisdict ...

to block the merger with Time Warner, saying it "will harm competition, result in higher bills for consumers and less innovation." On June 12, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the merger could go forward. The merger closed two days afterwards, with Time Warner becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. A day later, the company was renamed WarnerMedia. Three months after completing the acquisition, AT&T reorganized into four main units: Communications, including consumer and business wireline telephony, AT&T Mobility, and consumer entertainment video services; WarnerMedia, including Turner cable television networks,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

film and television production, and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

; AT&T Latin America, consisting of wireless service in Mexico and video in Latin America and the Caribbean under the

Vrio VRIO (value, rarity, imitability, and organization) is a business analysis framework for strategic management. As a form of internal analysis, VRIO evaluates all the resources and capabilities of a firm. It was first proposed by Jay Barney in 19 ...

brand; and Advertising and Analytics, since renamed

Xandr Xandr, Inc. (pronounced "Zander") is the advertising and analytics subsidiary of Microsoft, which operates an online platform, ''Community'', for buying and selling consumer-centric digital advertising. In December 2021, AT&T announced that t ...

. On July 13, 2017, it was reported that AT&T would introduce a

cloud-based Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

DVR streaming service. It hoped to create a unified platform across DirecTV and its DirecTV Now streaming service, with

U-verse U-verse TV is an internet protocol television (IPTV) service operated by DirecTV. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse was originally a triple play package that included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), IP telephone (now AT& ...

to be added shortly afterward. The service, named

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

, launched in May 2020. On September 12, 2017, it was reported that AT&T planned to launch a new cable TV-like service for delivery over-the-top over its own or a competitor's broadband network sometime the following year. On March 7, 2018, the company prepared to sell a minority stake of DirecTV Latin America through an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

, creating a new holding company for those assets named Vrio Corp. On April 18, just a day before the public debut of Vrio, AT&T canceled the IPO due to market conditions. AT&T is the world's largest telecommunications company. AT&T is also the largest provider of mobile telephone services and the largest provider of

fixed telephone A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

(landline) services in the United States.Leichtman Research Group
"Research Notes,"
First Quarter 2012, pg. 6, AT&T (#1) with 21,232,000 residential phone lines. In September 2019,

activist investor Shareholder activism is a form of activism in which shareholders use Equity (finance), equity stakes in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successfu ...

Elliott Management Elliott Investment Management L.P. is an American investment management firm. It is also one of the largest activist funds in the world. It is the management affiliate of American hedge funds Elliott Associates L.P. and Elliott International ...

revealed that it had purchased $3.2 billion of AT&T stock (a 1.2% equity interest), and had pushed for the company to divest assets to improve its share value. On March 4, 2020, AT&T announced its intent to perform major cost-cutting moves, including cuts to capital investment, and plans to promote AT&T TV (which officially launched nationally on March 2) as its primary pay television service offering. AT&T stated it would still primarily promote DirecTV "where cable broadband is not prevalent", and as a specialty option. On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that effective July 1, 2020, company COO

John Stankey John T. Stankey (born 1962) is an American businessman who is the chairman and CEO of AT&T. He previously was AT&T's president and COO and before that CEO of WarnerMedia. He assumed the CEO role of AT&T in July 2020, succeeding Randall L. Steph ...

would replace

Randall L. Stephenson Randall Lynn Stephenson (born April 22, 1960) is a retired American telecommunications executive. He served as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AT&T Inc. from 2007 to 2020. He was national president of Scouting America from 2016 to 2 ...

as CEO of AT&T. It was also acknowledged that AT&T's acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner had by this point resulted in a massive debt burden of $200 billion for the company. As a result of planned cost cutting programs, the sale of

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Warner Bros. Games (formerly Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California. The publisher was founded as a division of Warner Bros. on January 14, 2004, as well as the WB Games brand. ...

was proposed, but ultimately abandoned due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-related growth in the video gaming industry, as well as a positive reception to upcoming

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

,'' and ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' titles from fans and critics.

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

was sold to

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

for in December 2020, with the acquisition closing in August 2021. On February 25, 2021, AT&T announced that it would spin-off DirecTV, U-Verse TV, and DirecTV Stream into a separate entity, selling a 30% stake to

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

(owners of

Astound Broadband Astound Broadband is an American telecommunications holding company based in Princeton, New Jersey. It was formed on January 24, 2018, with the completion of the $2.36 billion purchase of Kirkland-based Wave Broadband by private-equity firm TPG ...

cable), while retaining a 70% stake in the new standalone company. The deal was closed on August 2, 2021. On May 17, 2021, AT&T announced plans to relinquish its equity interest in

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC (Trade name, doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational corporation, multinational mass media and show business, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 ...

, and have it merge with

in a deal to establish a new media company.

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

, which was a bidder in the proposed sale of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, purchased the mobile gaming studio Playdemic from WBIE for in June 2021. In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired

TMZ ''TMZ'' is an American entertainment-focused tabloid news organization owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested ...

from

in a deal worth about $50 million with TMZ being operated under the

Fox Entertainment Fox Entertainment is an American entertainment company owned by Fox Corporation known for television production and distribution. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, with offices in ...

division. On December 21, 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr (and

AppNexus Xandr, formerly known as AppNexus, is an American multinational technology company operating a Cloud computing, cloud-based software platform that enables and optimizes programmatic online advertising. Headquartered in the Flatiron District of Ne ...

) to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

for an undisclosed price. The deal was completed in June 2022. On April 8, 2022, the spinoff of WarnerMedia and its subsequent merger with Discovery, Inc. to form

was completed. As a result of this merger, HBO Max and other video services were dropped from AT&T's unlimited plan offering.

2024 Snowflake data breach

In 2024, AT&T was one of several clients of

Snowflake Inc. Snowflake Inc. is an American cloud-based data storage company. Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, it operates a platform that allows for data analysis and simultaneous access of data sets with minimal latency. It operates on Amazon Web Ser ...

that had data stolen in as part of the mass 2024

Snowflake data breach The Snowflake data breach refers to a large-scale cybersecurity incident in 2024 involving unauthorized access to customer cloud environments hosted on Snowflake Inc., a cloud-based data warehousing platform.Matt Egan and Sean Lyngaas, The breach ...

. Phone and text logs from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022 of "nearly all" AT&T customers were exposed as part of the breach. This hack is the first cyber incident in which the Justice Department has asked a company to delay filing a disclosure with the SEC because of potential national security or public safety concerns. AT&T was also reported to have been affected by a 2024 attack from the

Salt Typhoon Salt Typhoon is an advanced persistent threat actor believed to be operated by China's Ministry of State Security (China), Ministry of State Security (MSS) which has conducted high-profile cyber espionage campaigns, particularly against the Unite ...

advanced persistent threat An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a stealthy threat actor, typically a State (polity), state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period. In recent times, the ...

linked to the

Chinese government The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...

Landline operating companies

Of the eight companies that were part of the Breakup of the Bell System, these five are a part of the current AT&T: *

, acquired by SBC in 1999 * AT&T Corp., acquired by SBC in 2005 * BellSouth, acquired by AT&T in 2006 *

, acquired by SBC in 1997 *

Southwestern Bell Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. It does business as other d.b.a. names in its operating region, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and portions of Illinois. The company is ...

, rebranded as

SBC Communications AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the ...

in 1995

Baby Bells chart

Current states

AT&T's wireline business provides services in 22 states. * Alabama * Arizona * Arkansas * California * Florida * Georgia * Illinois * Indiana * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Michigan * Mississippi * Missouri * Nevada * North Carolina * Ohio * Oklahoma * South Carolina * Tennessee * Texas * Wisconsin

Former operating companies

The following companies have become defunct or were sold under SBC/AT&T ownership: *

Woodbury Telephone The Woodbury Telephone Company was a telephone company that served the Connecticut towns of Woodbury, Southbury, Bethlehem, and parts of Roxbury and Oxford. In 1997, Woodbury Telephone was acquired by Southern New England Telecommunications. I ...

merged with Southern New England Telephone on June 1, 2007. *

Southern New England Telephone The Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET), doing business as Frontier Communications of Connecticut, is a local exchange carrier owned by Frontier Communications. History It started operations on January 28, 1878, as the District Teleph ...

was sold to Frontier Communications in 2014.

Decline of rural landlines

Of the

Baby Bell A Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) was a corporate entity created as result of the antitrust lawsuit by the United States Department of Justice against the Western Electric Company and American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 19 ...

s, Ameritech sold some of its

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

landlines to

CenturyTel Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink, Inc.) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, which offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice and managed services through it ...

, in 1998; BellSouth sold some of its lines to MebTel, during the 2000s;

US West US West, Inc. was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 Fed. Supp. 131), a cas ...

sold many historically Bell landlines to Lynch Communications and

Pacific Telecom Pacific Telecom, Inc., originally Telephone Utilities, Inc. and now CenturyTel of the Northwest, Inc., was an independent telephone company that owned over 600,000 telephone lines in 12 states prior to its acquisition by CenturyTel. History Nor ...

, in the 1990s;

sold many of its

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

lines to

FairPoint FairPoint Communications, Inc. was an American operator of communication services. FairPoint's services include local and long-distance phone service, data, Internet, broadband, television, business communications solutions and fiber services. H ...

in 2008, and its

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

operations to Frontier Communications in 2010. On October 25, 2014, Frontier Communications took over control of the AT&T landline network in Connecticut after being approved by state utility regulators. The deal was worth about $2 billion, and included Frontier inheriting about 2,500 of AT&T's employees and many of AT&T's buildings.

Corporate structure

Facilities and regions

The company is headquartered at Whitacre Tower in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Dallas, Texas. On June 27, 2008, AT&T announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from downtown San Antonio to One AT&T Plaza in downtown Dallas. The company said that it moved to gain better access to its customers and operations throughout the world, and to the key technology partners, suppliers, innovation and human resources needed as it continues to grow, domestically and internationally. AT&T Inc. previously relocated its corporate headquarters to San Antonio from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1992, when it was then named Southwestern Bell Corporation. The company's Telecom Operations group, which serves residential and regional business customers in 22 U.S. states, remains in San Antonio. Atlanta, Georgia, continues to be the headquarters for AT&T Mobility, with significant offices in Redmond, Washington, the former home of

. Bedminster, New Jersey, is the headquarters for the company's Global Business Services group and AT&T Labs and is where the original AT&T Corp. remains located. St. Louis continues as home to the company's Directory operations, AT&T Advertising Solutions. AT&T also offers services in many locations throughout the

Asia Pacific Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

; its regional headquarters is located in Hong Kong. The company is also active in Mexico, and on November 7, 2014, it was announced that Mexican carrier Iusacell would be acquired by AT&T. The acquisition was approved in January 2015. On April 30, 2015, AT&T acquired wireless operations Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings (now AT&T Mexico).

Corporate governance

AT&T's current

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

The current management includes: *

–

Chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

* Thaddeus Arroyo – Chief Strategy and Development Officer * Pascal Desroches – Senior Executive Vice President &

Chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

Ed Gillespie Edward Walter Gillespie (born August 1, 1961) is an American politician, strategist, and lobbyist who served as the 61st Chair of the Republican National Committee from 2003 to 2005 and was counselor to the President from 2007 to 2009 during th ...

– Senior Executive Vice President - External and Legislative Affairs * Kellyn Smith Kenny – Chief Marketing & Growth Officer * Lori Lee – CEO – AT&T Latin America & Global Marketing Officer * Jeremy Legg – Chief Technology Officer, AT&T Services, Inc. * David R. McAtee II – Senior Executive Vice President and

General counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

* Jeff McElfresh –

Chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

Political involvement

According to

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

, AT&T was the fourteenth-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees from 1989 to 2019, having contributed more than , 42% of which went to

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and 58% of which went to Democrats. In 2005, AT&T was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. Bill Leahy, representing AT&T, sits on the Private Enterprise Board of the

American Legislative Exchange Council The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservatism in the United States, conservative state legislature (United States), state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share Model act, ...

(ALEC). ALEC is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

state legislators and

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. During the period of 1998 to 2019, the company expended on

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

in the United States. A key political issue for AT&T has been the question of which businesses win the right to profit by providing broadband internet access in the United States. The company has also lobbied in support of several federal bills. AT&T supported the

Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 3675; 113th Congress) The Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013 () is a bill that would make a number of changes to procedures that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes. The FCC would have to act in a ...

, a bill that would make a number of changes to procedures that the

U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

(FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes. The FCC would have to act in a more transparent way as a result of this bill, forced to accept public input about regulations. AT&T's Executive Vice President of Federal Relations, Tim McKone, said that the bill's "much needed institutional reforms will help arm the agency with the tools to keep pace with the Internet speed of today's marketplace. It will also ensure that outmoded regulatory practices for today's competitive marketplace are properly placed in the dustbin of history." In May 2018, reports emerged that AT&T made 12 monthly payments between January and December 2017 to Essential Consultants, a company set up by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's lawyer Michael Cohen, totaling $600,000. Although initial reports on May 8 mentioned only four monthly payments totaling $200,000, documents obtained by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' on May 10 confirmed the figure of 12 payments, which had begun three days after the President was sworn into office. AT&T confirmed the report the same day. The report from ''The Washington Post'', as well as additional reporting from

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

, revealed the payments had been made for Cohen to "provide guidance" relating to the attempted $85 billion merger with

, to gain information on the Trump administration's planned tax reforms, as well as about potential changes to

net neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering User (computing), users and online content providers consistent tra ...

policies under the new FCC. Chairman of the FCC

Ajit Pai Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He became a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital in April 2021. He bec ...

denied Cohen ever inquired about net neutrality on AT&T's behalf. A spokesperson for AT&T said that the company had been contacted by the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller regarding the payments, and had provided all the information requested in November and December 2017. In early 2019, the Democratic House Judiciary requested records related to the AT&T-Time Warner merger from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. While it has expressed support for

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

causes, AT&T has also donated to sponsors of anti-transgender legislation in several US states, especially those predominantly Republican-governed, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Florida.

Historical financial performance

The financial performance of the company is reported to shareholders on an annual basis and a matter of public record. Where performance has been restated, the most recent statement of performance from an annual report is used.

Carbon footprint

AT&T reported total CO2e emissions (direct + indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 5,788 Kt (-737 /-11.3% y-o-y)Alt URL
and plans to reduce emissions by 63% by 2030 from a 2015 base year. This science-based target is aligned with the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

to limit global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Criticism and controversies

Hemisphere database

The company maintains a database of

call detail record A call detail record (CDR) is a data record produced by a telephone exchange or other telecommunications equipment that documents the details of a telephone call or other telecommunications transactions (e.g., text message) that passes through th ...

s of all telephone calls that have passed through its network since 1987. AT&T employees work at

High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program is a drug-prohibition enforcement program run by the Executive Office of the President, United States Office of National Drug Control Policy. It was established in 1990 after the Anti-Drug A ...

offices (operated by the

Office of National Drug Control Policy The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The director of the ONDCP, colloquially known as the drug czar, heads the office. "Drug czar" was a term first used ...

) in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

so data can be quickly turned over to law enforcement agencies. Records are requested via an administrative subpoena, without the involvement of a court or grand jury.

Censorship

In September 2007, AT&T changed its legal policy to state that "AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice for conduct that AT&T believes ... (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries." By October 10, 2007, AT&T had altered the terms and conditions for its Internet service to explicitly support freedom of expression by its subscribers, after an outcry claiming the company had given itself the right to censor its subscribers' transmissions.

Privacy controversy

In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged the

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit ''Hepting v. AT&T'', which alleged that AT&T had allowed agents of the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

(NSA) to monitor phone and Internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants. If true, this would violate the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA, , ) is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil.First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Fourth Amendments of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

. AT&T has yet to confirm or deny that monitoring by the NSA is occurring. In April 2006, retired former AT&T technician Mark Klein lodged an

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...

supporting this allegation. The

US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equ ...

stated it would intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege. In July 2006, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California – in which the suit was filed – rejected a federal government motion to dismiss the case. The motion to dismiss, which invoked the State Secrets Privilege, had argued that any court review of the alleged partnership between the federal government and AT&T would harm national security. The case was immediately appealed to the Ninth Circuit. It was dismissed on June 3, 2009, citing retroactive legislation in the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA, , ) is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil.USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' reported that all international and domestic calling records had been handed over to the National Security Agency by AT&T, Verizon, SBC, and BellSouth for the purpose of creating a massive calling database. The portions of the ''new'' AT&T that had been part of SBC Communications before November 18, 2005, were not mentioned. On June 21, 2006, the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' reported that AT&T had rewritten rules on its privacy policy. The policy, which took effect June 23, 2006, says that "AT&T – not customers – owns customers' confidential info and can use it 'to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process.'" On August 22, 2007, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell confirmed that AT&T was one of the telecommunications companies that assisted with the government's warrantless wire-tapping program on calls between foreign and domestic sources. On November 8, 2007, Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, told

Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and ra ...

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

that all Internet traffic passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's San Francisco office – to which only employees with National Security Agency clearance had access. AT&T keeps for five to seven years a record of who text messages whom and the date and time, but not the content of the messages. AT&T has a one star

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

rating from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Copyright enforcement

In January 2008, reports emerged that the company planned to begin filtering all

Internet traffic Internet traffic is the flow of data within the entire Internet, or in certain network links of its constituent networks. Common traffic measurements are total volume, in units of multiples of the byte, or as transmission rates in bytes per cert ...

which passed through its network for intellectual property violations. Media commentators speculated that if this plan was implemented, it would have led to a mass exodus of subscribers from AT&T, although Internet traffic of non-subscribers may have gone through the company's network anyway. Internet freedom proponents used these developments as justification for government-mandated

network neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent transfer rates regard ...

. Under AT&T's current copyright enforcement program, content owners may notify AT&T when they allege unlawful sharing of material. The program is based on IP addresses visible to content owners in peer-to-peer networks, not on filtering. AT&T has terminated the broadband service of some customers accused of copyright infringement.

Discrimination against local public-access television channels

In 2009 AT&T was accused by

community media Community media (or community broadcasting) refers to media organizations that are owned, controlled, and operated by and for a community, serving its specific interests. These media outlets can take various forms, including Mass media, print, broa ...

groups of discriminating against local

public, educational, and government access Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television special ...

(PEG) cable TV channels, by "impictions that will severely restrict the audience". According to Barbara Popovic, executive director of the Chicago public-access service

CAN-TV Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) is a public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable television service in Chicago, Illinois. The organization is funded by cable companies as part of their cable franchise agreements with the C ...

, the new AT&T

system forced all

Public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

into a special menu system, denying normal functionality such as channel numbers, access to the standard program guide, and DVR recording. The Ratepayer Advocates division of the

California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition ...

reported: "Instead of putting the stations on individual channels, AT&T has bundled community stations into a generic channel that can only be navigated through a complex and lengthy process." Sue Buske (president of telecommunications consulting firm the Buske Group and a former head of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers/

Alliance for Community Media The Alliance for Community Media (ACM), is an educational, advocacy and lobbying organization in the United States which represents Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV organizations and community media centers throughout the ...

) argue that this is "an overall attack ..on public access across the

nited States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

the place in the dial around cities and communities where people can make their own media in their own communities".

Information security

In June 2010, a

hacker group Hacker groups are informal communities that began to flourish in the early 1980s, with the advent of the home computer. Overview Prior to that time, the term ''hacker'' was simply a referral to any Hacker (hobbyist), computer hobbyist. The hacker ...

known as

Goatse Security Goatse Security (GoatSec) was a loose-knit, nine-person grey hat hacker group that specialized in uncovering security flaws. It was a division of the anti-blogging Internet trolling organization known as the Gay Nigger Association of America (GN ...

discovered a

vulnerability Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." The understanding of social and environmental vulnerability, as a methodological approach, involves ...

within AT&T that could allow anyone to uncover email addresses belonging to customers of AT&T 3G service for the

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

. These email addresses could be accessed without a protective password. Using a script, Goatse Security collected thousands of email addresses from AT&T. Goatse Security informed AT&T about the security flaw through a third party. Goatse Security then disclosed around 114,000 of these emails to

Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American internet media company and Link farm#Blog network, blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorpor ...

, which published an article about the security flaw and disclosure in ''

Valleywag Valleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, Praetorian Security Group criticized the web application that Goatse Security exploited as "poorly designed". In April 2015, AT&T was fined $25 million over data security breaches, marking the largest ever fine issued by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) for breaking data privacy laws. The investigation revealed the theft of details of approximately 280,000 people from call centers in Mexico,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In March 2024, AT&T confirmed the 2021 leak of contact information for over 7.6 million current users, as well as 65 million former ones. The leaked records may contain "full name, email address, mailing address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, AT&T account number and passcode". Multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed as a result of this. In July 2024, the company stated it experienced a new breach, the largest to date. The company is expected to notify around 110 million customers who were affected.

Accusations of enabling fraud

In March 2012, the United States federal government announced a lawsuit against AT&T. The specific accusations state that AT&T "violated the False Claims Act by facilitating and seeking federal payment for IP Relay calls by international callers who were ineligible for the service and sought to use it for fraudulent purposes. The complaint alleges that, out of fears that fraudulent call volume would drop after the registration deadline, AT&T knowingly adopted a non-compliant registration system that did not verify whether the user was located within the United States. The complaint further contends that AT&T continued to employ this system even with the knowledge that it facilitated the use of IP Relay by fraudulent foreign callers, which accounted for up to 95 percent of AT&T's call volume. The government's complaint alleges that AT&T improperly billed the TRS Fund for reimbursement of these calls and received millions of dollars in federal payments as a result." In 2013, AT&T entered into a consent decree with the FCC and paid a total of $21.75 million.

Aaron Slator controversy

On April 28, 2015, AT&T announced that it had fired Aaron Slator, President of Content and Advertising Sales, for sending text messages critics described as racist. African-American employee Knoyme King filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Slator. The day before that, protesters arrived at AT&T's headquarters in Dallas and its satellite offices in Los Angeles as well as at the home of CEO Randall Stephenson to protest alleged systemic racial policies. According to accounts, the protesters demanded that AT&T begin working with 100% black-owned media companies. On January 24, 2017, Slator sued AT&T in the

Los Angeles Superior Court The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the California Superior Court located in Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The Superior Court operates 36 courthouses throughout the county. Curr ...

, accusing the company of

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and wrongful termination. Slator had been involved in organizing AT&T's planned $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV since 2014, and he claimed that when news headlines speculated that his text messages could prevent the acquisition from going through, he was fired as a "scapegoat" by company executives. He also claimed that the executives had known about the text messages since at least late 2013, and had promised him at the time that he would not be fired for them. The company stood by its decision to terminate Slator.

Overcharging government agencies

In 2020 AT&T paid out $48 million to settle a lawsuit with 30 government entities. The suit (under the California False Claims Act) related to contractual undertakings to provide services at "the lowest cost available". AT&T denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

One America News Network

An investigative report by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

in 2021 revealed that AT&T played a key role in creating, funding and sustaining

One America News Network One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump news and political commentary television channel and website founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched ...

(OAN), a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

TV network known for promoting

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

. According to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant, 90% of OAN's revenue came from AT&T. According to OAN founder Robert Herring Sr., AT&T wanted to create a conservative network to compete with

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

. Court documents showed OAN promised to "cast a positive light" on AT&T during newscasts. AT&T denied the allegations.

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

president

Derrick Johnson Derrick O'Hara Johnson (born November 22, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, twice earning consensus All-Amer ...

and comedian

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...

criticized AT&T for funding OAN.

Leaking data to Wall Street

In March 2021 the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

(SEC) filed suit against AT&T and three of its executives for violating the Fair Disclosure Rule against making selective disclosures of "material nonpublic information" to analysts and others. The SEC alleged that beginning in early 2016 these executives leaked key information to

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

analysts in order to manipulate revenue forecasts for the company. In December 2022, without acknowledging any guilt, AT&T agreed to pay $6.25 million in fines to settle the lawsuit. The individual executives were also on the hook for $25,000 each.

Bribery to influence legislation

In October 2022, AT&T agreed to pay a $23 million fine to resolve a federal criminal investigation into the company's efforts to unlawfully influence former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan. Under a deferred prosecution with the

, AT&T admitted that it arranged for payments to an ally of Madigan in order to influence Madigan's vote in 2017 on legislation that would eliminate AT&T's so-called "Carrier of Last Resort" obligation to provide landline telephone service to all Illinois residents, which was expected to save the company millions of dollars. Madigan also helped to defeat an amendment to a bill that became law in 2018 regarding fees for small cell tower attachments that would have been harmful to AT&T's interests. Former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza, who is set to go on trial in September 2024 for the alleged bribery scheme, described AT&T's

quid pro quo ''Quid pro quo'' (Latin: "something for something") is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: " ...

relationship with Madigan in an email to an AT&T employee as "the friends and family plan."

2024 outage

On February 22, 2024, cellular service was disrupted across the United States with "millions" unable to connect to the cellular network. Municipalities reported that AT&T customers were unable to place calls to emergency services, even when using their phone's SOS capability. The blackout prompted the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to launch investigations into the possibility of a cyber attack being the cause of the blackout. AT&T later claimed that the cause was instead a poorly timed server update. Users were later compensated credit as a result of the outage. In March, the FCC opened an investigation into the outage. 2024 Data Breach Fine On September 18, 2024, AT&T was fined $13 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following a major data breach that exposed millions of customers' personal information. The FTC found that AT&T failed to implement adequate cybersecurity measures and did not promptly notify affected individuals. As part of the settlement, AT&T is required to enhance its data protection practices and provide identity theft protection to those impacted.

Naming rights and sponsorships

Buildings

(One AT&T Plaza) – corporate headquarters,

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas * AT&T 220 Building – building in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Indiana * AT&T Building – building in Detroit, Michigan * AT&T Building – building in Indianapolis, Indiana * AT&T Building – building in

Kingman, Arizona Kingman is a city in and the county seat of Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The population was 32,693 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hi ...

* AT&T Building – (aka "The Batman Building") in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

* AT&T Building – building in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

* AT&T Building Addition – building in Detroit, Michigan * AT&T Building – building in San Diego *

AT&T Center Frost Bank Center (formerly AT&T Center and SBC Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena on the east side of San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is the home of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The arena seat ...

– building in Los Angeles *

– building in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

* AT&T City Center – building in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

* AT&T Corporate Center – building in Chicago, Illinois * AT&T Huron Road Building – skyscraper in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio * AT&T

Lenox Park Lenox Park may refer to: Georgia * Lenox Park (Atlanta), historic neighborhood now part of the Morningside-Lenox Park neighborhood * Lenox Park (DeKalb County, Georgia), a neighborhood and business park near/in the Brookhaven, Georgia, Brookhaven a ...

Campus – AT&T Mobility Headquarters in DeKalb County just outside Atlanta, Georgia * AT&T Midtown Center – building in Atlanta, Georgia * AT&T Switching Center – building in Los Angeles * AT&T Switching Center – building in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

* AT&T Switching Center – building in San Francisco * AT&T Tower – building in Minneapolis, Minnesota * AT&T Building – building in Meriden, Connecticut * AT&T Entertainment Group HQ – DirecTV corporate campus in

El Segundo, California El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 17,272 as of t ...

Venues

AT&T Field AT&T Field is a baseball field located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is the home of the minor league baseball, minor league Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League. The capacity of the stadium is 6,382 people, ...

–

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

(formerly ''BellSouth Park'') * AT&T Plaza –

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois (public space that hosts the Cloud Gate sculpture in

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...

) *

AT&T Performing Arts Center The AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas, preliminarily referred to as the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, is a $354-million multi-venue center in the Dallas Arts District, Dallas, Arts District for performances of opera, musical ...

– Dallas, Texas *

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic ...

–

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

(formerly ''Cowboys Stadium'') * AT&T Stadium –

Glen Jean, West Virginia Glen Jean is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States, near Oak Hill. As of the 2020 census, its population was 90 (down from 210 at the 2010 census). The area had been known as White Oaks, but when the ...

(outdoor open-seating stadium at the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

Summit Bechtel Reserve The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, often shortened to Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR) or The Summit, is a High Adventure base owned by Scouting America and located in Fayette and Raleigh counties, near Beckley, West Virginia. It co ...

) *

Jones AT&T Stadium Jones AT&T Stadium (commonly referred to as "The Jones") is an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Built in the style of Spanish Renaissance architecture, it is the home field of the Texas Tech Red ...

–

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

(formerly ''Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium'', ''Jones SBC Stadium'')

Sponsorships

100 Thieves 100 Thieves, LLC (abbreviated 100T) is an American lifestyle brand and Esports, gaming organization based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2017 by Nadeshot, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag. The organization competes in several video games, includ ...

(esports) *

AT&T Byron Nelson The Byron Nelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is one of two PGA Tour stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – which until the 2020-21 ...

–

Irving, Texas Irving is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and is an Inner suburb, inner city suburb of Dallas. Irving is noted for its #Demographics, racial and ethnic diver ...

(golf) *

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held annually at Pebble Beach, California, near Carmel. The tournament is usually held during the month of February on two different courses, currently Pebble Beach ...

(golf) *

Capitanes de Ciudad de México The Mexico City Capitanes () are a Mexican professional basketball team based in Mexico City. The Capitanes competed as a member club in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP) for its first three seasons and the franchise is currently ...

(basketball) *

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

(basketball) *

College Football Playoff National Championship The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season. ...

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. The Stars compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The Stars ...

(ice hockey) *

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

(basketball) *

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

and the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

, including the U.S. men's and U.S. women's national teams and the

Major League Soccer All-Star Game The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially adopted a traditional all ...

from

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Mexico national football team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in men's international association football, football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (). It has been a member of FIFA since 1929 and c ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(Corporate Champion) *

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...

and

NBA 2K League The ''NBA 2K'' League (NBA 2KL or simply 2K League) is an esports league joint venture between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Take-Two Interactive. The league was announced in 2017 with its inaugural season taking place ...

(basketball, esports) *

BMW Sauber The German automobile manufacturer/brand BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Form ...

(Formula One racing team) – 2005 *

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari (; ), currently racing under Scuderia Ferrari HP, is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "the Pranc ...

(Formula One racing team) – 2005 *

Williams Racing Williams Racing, legally known as Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited and competing as Atlassian Williams Racing, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams (1942–2021) and Patrick Head. The team w ...

(Formula One racing team) – 2007 to 2011 *

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

(Formula One racing team) – technical support and sponsorship, 2011 to 2020 *

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

, sponsorship since March 2019 *

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

– sponsorship since July 19, 2018

References

External links

; Corporate information *
Bell Operating Companies (from Bell System Memorial)

AT&T
– History and science resources at The Franklin Institute's Case Files online exhibit (archived 30 August 2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:ATandT Bell System 1983 establishments in Texas American companies established in 1983 Companies based in Dallas Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Holding companies established in 1983 Holding companies of the United States Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1983 Telecommunications companies of the United States

History

Origin and growth (1877–1981)

Breakup and reformation (1982–2004)

Purchase of former parent and acquisitions (2005–2013)

Recent developments (2013–present)

2024 Snowflake data breach

Landline operating companies

Baby Bells chart

Current states

Former operating companies

Decline of rural landlines

Corporate structure

Facilities and regions

Corporate governance

Political involvement

Historical financial performance

Carbon footprint

Criticism and controversies

Hemisphere database

Censorship

Privacy controversy

Copyright enforcement

Discrimination against local public-access television channels

Information security

Accusations of enabling fraud

Aaron Slator controversy

Overcharging government agencies

One America News Network

Leaking data to Wall Street

Bribery to influence legislation

2024 outage

Naming rights and sponsorships

Buildings

Venues

Sponsorships

See also

References

External links