AT&T

AT&T Inc., an abbreviation of its predecessor's original name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications company headquartered at the Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. AT&T is the world's third-largest telecommunications company by revenue, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States behind T-Mobile and Verizon, and the nation's largest fiber internet provider. On the New York Stock Exchange, AT&T trades under the ticker symbol "T," and has a market capitalization of $186.83 billion. On the Fortune 500 (2025) AT&T ranked 37th among the largest American businesses and reported revenues of $125.6 billion last year. AT&T has over 240 million subscribers worldwide, and its operations are split into two main segments: Communications, which offers wireless services, broadband options, and business solutions, along with Latin America, which provides wireless networking in Mexico. Even after spinning off DirecTV, AT&T still offers bundling deals with it. While AT&T traces its history to the original company founded in 1885, the modern version began on January 1, 1984, as Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC Communications) after the Bell System breakup. The original AT&T was created by American Bell Telephone on March 5, 1885, as a long-distance subsidiary, and later merged with its corporate parent in 1889. Over time, AT&T developed a natural monopoly in telephony, dominating telecommunications for much of the 20th century and earning the nickname "Ma Bell". The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T under the Sherman Antitrust Act, arguing it held unfair advantages over other telecom companies through the Bell System. Despite fighting the case, AT&T settled in 1982 to break up the Bell System into seven independent companies. AT&T was allowed to retain its long-lines and technology divisions and it ventured into new industries. SBC, which originated from ADT Inc., was the smallest...