The Deal of the Century Quotes

“The FCC’s introduction of competition in the long-distance market has been and will be shown to be contrary to the best interests of millions of Americans,” Judge Richey wrote in his December 1982 opinion dismissing the entire case. “Every action complained of in this case could have or should have been handled by the appropriate regulatory bodies . . . The court believes that the antitrust laws were never intended to destroy an essential public utility such as we have here.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“As in war, the only clear winners during the first months after divestiture were those who possessed the means to turn carnage into profit.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“But what is the choice? The choice is keep the Bell System as an integrated enterprise with regulations that will strain it, or satisfy the national consensus, which says that in order for the Bell System to be free, it must be much smaller. And that was the decision that was made . . . I told Your Honor last January that this case raised a truly fundamental issue. It is a broad, profound, philosophical, almost legal issue. What is the relationship between a public utility and the antitrust laws? How do you put those two things together? What are the obligations? And Your Honor has expressed it yourself: ‘Hey, you are just a big corporation, go out and make money, quit pretending that you are really concerned with the public interest.’ That tone. You know, the company . . . It may be hard for a lot of people to believe it, but for a hundred years this company has been based on the notion of public service. A lot of Bell System people cried this morning, and not because they are not going to make any more money . . . We can live with this as a money-making institution. The problem is, what does it do to the public? What does it do to the concept of universal service? And the message that has been coming out from Congress, and from this court, is, ‘That is none of your business. The market protects the public interest. You are being arrogant in thinking you even have a responsibility to consider it.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“Who can AT&T deal with to get a way out of this quagmire?” The executive wrote. “One person proposes a coherent antitrust theory, can make a deal and have it stick: Baxter. The omnibus ‘break it all up’ approach of Justice has gradually been replaced by a workable scheme, the dimensions of which offer AT&T a valuable commodity 00 reasonable certainty in the future. The shareholders can be protected, the Bell companies can survive it, and so can AT&T. Significantly, the court has now become by far the best option for a final resolution of issues that simply can’t wait any longer. Brown sees this as the best of a series of hard alternatives — one of the worst being to do nothing but continue to slug it out on all fronts. The Bell organization says we’ll do it and we’ll make it work and we’ll leave the philosophizing till later. Besides which, we’re not wimps. We want to compete and we want to demonstrate that we can. Offense is more fun than defense. This is a workable solution. Let’s take the initiative and put the destiny of the business back in the hands of management.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“Mr. Connell says, quoting a sage, ‘Regulation means you never have to say you’re sorry.’ In fact, regulation means that you always have to say you are sorry, because what we are dealing with in this case is a situation in which, starting with that decision in 1968 [Carterfone], the commission has evolved a set of rules that have changed on a year-to-year basis. I don’t read Mr. Segal, but Voltaire in describing a trip across France once said, ‘In crossing France, laws changes about as often as you change horses.’ And in crossing the decade from 1968 to 1978, regulations — which, to this company, that’s laws, that is what we have to follow — changed more often that we were able to find horses, or elephants, and we were constantly being told by the regulators not only that they were going to change the rules but that we should have known it to start with.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“But I couldn’t help think, when I heard Mr. Connell talking, about the time I wrote a political platform for a political candidate, who can remain nameless. It wasn’t long, after we got through with the platform in that negotiation, when someone said, ‘That’s a fine platform.’ I said, and I meant it, ‘Yes, it touches on every subject that is important to the people of this state, and it avoids every issue.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“Ma Bell is a symbol of the past. No longer is a steady dividend sufficient. Today’s investor looks to the prospect of improvement. Today’s employees reject maternalism; they’ll take care of themselves. Today ours is a business that knows that it is not we, AT&T, but the customer who knows best. Mother Bell simply doesn’t live here anymore.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T

“Socially Important Work in the Company of Good People was Verveer’s professional motto, and he even had the phrase inscribed on a plaque behind his desk.”
― Steve Coll, The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T