BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 10, 2000 ISSUE
COVER STORY Binge and Purge KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS Profits grew an estimated 194%, to $3.8 billion, in 1999 Turned toward more profitable data, Internet, and international operations Is there any limit to BERNARD J. EBBERS' appetite? In the past decade, the CEO of the company known as MCI WorldCom Inc. (WCOM) has taken over more than 60 rivals, including MCI. Now, the 58-year-old Ebbers has Sprint on his plate. It seems that whenever it's time for him to get around to managing his new assets, Ebbers orders up another telecom titan for lunch. Even while the feast goes on, Ebbers has kept revenues and profits soaring at MCI WorldCom, based in Clinton, Miss. A notorious penny-pincher--he lived in a double-wide trailer until last year, when he built a house--Ebbers loves to trim the fat from corporate budgets. When he took over MCI in 1998, he cut the fleet of seven corporate jets to three, and banned virtually all company cars. That helped slash overhead from 28% of revenues at MCI to 23% at the combined companies. There have been some bumps along the way. Last year, Ebbers lifted the stock by only 9%. And federal officials will likely demand tough concessions on the Sprint deal--if they approve it at all. But the jeans-clad executive isn't ready to call off the party. Since MCI WorldCom now gets nearly three-fourths of its revenue growth from international operations and data communications, expect it to be more active in Europe and Asia. Global consolidation is still rolling. And Ebbers is waiting, knife and fork in hand. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS INTRODUCTION MANAGERS TO WATCH THE TOP ENTREPRENEURS THE TOP 25 MANAGERS Minuro Arakawa Bernard Arnault Arthur Blank Peter Bijur Gordon Binder Steve Case John Chambers James Curvey Thierry Desmarest Bernie Ebbers Tom Engibous Chris Gent Irwin Jacobs Steve Jobs Mel Karmazin James Kelly Timothy Koogle Ken Lay Jenny Ming Thomas Siebel Masayoshi Son Martha Stewart Keiji Tachikawa Jack Welch Yun Jong Yong ONLINE EXTRAS TO BUSINESS WEEK INVESTOR INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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