Edward E. Whitacre Jr.: The Busiest Bell
This Baby Bell's acquisition king didn't miss a beat in '98. SBC Communications CEO EDWARD E. WHITACRE JR. hammered out a deal to land Ameritech Corp. for $62 billion--the biggest phone deal ever. Once it closes, Whitacre will head a telecom giant with some 57 million local lines--almost a third of all phone lines in the country.
With his Texas drawl and soft-spoken charm, you'd never know that Whitacre, 57, is fiercely competitive. Case in point: his bid to bulldoze into the long-distance market. With applications in six states, he has more than any other Bell CEO. So far, they have been to no avail, but, he says, ''We won't give up.''
The Ameritech deal, which must pass regulatory muster, comes on the heels of his $4.4 billion purchase of Southern New England Telephone earlier this year. Last year he snared Pacific Telesis Group for $17 billion. And he's growing SBC's key data and Internet businesses at a fast clip.
By adding more phone lines in a growing territory, Whitacre has shown that SBC can reap sales from installing extra lines as users go online. Altogether, '98 earnings should rise 20% to $3.9 billion, on sales of $27 billion.
It's all part of Whitacre's plan to take on AT&T and MCI WorldCom. ''We can sit here and get picked on,'' he says, ''or get bigger and have more clout.'' Don't bet on Whitacre getting picked on in '99--or any other year.
RELATED ITEMS
 - The 25 Top Executives of the Year
- COVER IMAGE: The Top 25 Executives of the Year
- TABLE: The Honor Roll
- Timothy A. Koogle: Shouting Yahoo!
- Jurgen E. Schrempp: Deal of the Decade
- Charles R. Schwab and David S. Pottruck: Schwab's E-Gambit
- Nobuyuki Idei: Sony's Visionary
- Steven P. Jobs: A Boss's Life
- Millard S. Drexler: Daddy Gap
- Marilyn Carlson Nelson: Travel Titan
- Craig R. Barrett: Intel's Ironman
- Robert W. Pittman and Stephen M. Case: Making AOL A-O.K.
- Kwok Yuen Ho: Wizard of 3-D
- David D. Glass: Second Wind for Wal-Mart
- L. Dennis Kozlowski: Compulsive Shopper
- Scott G. McNealy: Java's Percolator
- Karen L. Katen: Pfizer's Pep Pill
- Stephen M. Wolf and Rakesh Gangwal: High Fliers
- Ferdinand Piech: Baron Von Bug
- Richard A. McGinn: Light Speed
- Walter V. Shipley: Bank Roll
- Michael S. Dell: Nerdy Like a Fox
- John T. Chambers: Cisco's Live Wire
- Lloyd Ward: Front-Load Lion
- Allan Wong: Toy Story
- Jorma Ollila: Finn Fatale
- Leo J. Hindery Jr.: Cable Cowboy
- Edward E. Whitacre Jr.: The Busiest Bell
- Executives to Watch in 1999
- The Top Entrepreneurs
Return to main story
|
