By 1992, MCI was an established upstart with about 15 percent of the long-distance market and revenues of $11 billion. As Pavlo arrived for work that July, the company's four-month-old “Friends & Family” calling plan was luring half a million households a month from AT&T and Sprint.4 Its stock price had doubled to around $20 in the previous two years, outdoing even its own 27 percent average return during the 17 years since its original listing.
