Chapter 207: American Telephone and Telegraph Company

Words : 1254 Updated : Oct 10th, 2025

In this era, the biggest company was undoubtedly the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, better known as AT&T, unmatched by any others. Dominating both international and domestic telecommunications, it had grown into a colossal giant. Don't assume that they just collected a little money from phone services; in fact, they didn't only possess vast laboratories, but also owned a variety of enterprises. Even solely from telephones and fax machines, they were already an impressive company. What did a market value of more than a hundred billion US dollars mean in this era? Later IT companies combined might not have the same influence. This was exactly what William White questioned: What was the Department of Commerce doing? With such obvious monopoly groups, wasn't it high time to break them up? And that IBM, which dominated the world's mainframe computer market, had now started encroaching upon the personal PC market. Why weren't they being regulated, yet a small chip company was being hassled instead? Our company was a joint venture with three main shareholders. How did it come to be associated with a monopoly? What mistake did we make? Targeted intentionally? Conspiracy? Alright, no matter how you argue, public opinion indeed sided with Motorola. William White actually knew that the issue with AT&T had been discussed, and the current time was merely a play of strengths among various forces, or to put it simply, how to divide the spoils. ... Mad dog? To many, William White had gone mad. They were merely talking about investigation, yet he flipped the table directly. "Why can't I flip the table? George, don't advise me. If they make trouble for me, does that mean I can't do the same?" "William, no way. Are you planning to enter the telecommunications industry?" "Don't joke. Even if they break it up, I couldn't afford it. I'm just causing trouble. Isn't it a loot-sharing feast? Since I can't have a bite, can't I throw some dog poop on it? Doesn't have to be the worst, just gross enough." "You might be targeting the wrong people. It's not them going against you." "Does it really matter who did it? They're just consortiums, all birds of a feather." "This time, it might be hard to wrap up." "Endure to gain strength, have desires become firm. I have no ambition in this industry; I just want to vent my anger. If anyone's unhappy, come on out with knives." ... The situation was utterly farcical, like a group of suit-wearing robbers surrounding a feast. The food was large, but the robbers were greedier. When the robbers finally agreed on how to eat, they didn't get a disaster but rather a pile of stinky dog poop thrown on them. Okay, it was indeed disgusting enough. Now, the choice was simple: proceed as planned, and it meant eating the food with the dog poop. If they wanted to eat clean food, they had to resolve the current public opinion issue. If it were hungry refugees who hadn't eaten in years, nothing much could be said, they'd fill up. But these were suit-wearing robbers, and it was really unbecoming. William White's move was indeed a stroke of genius. For now, that was how it was; a bunch of gnashing madmen almost universally pissed off. This matter could not be delayed. Everyone knew the current economy was in a downturn; doing anything wasn't profitable. But had they considered that if the economy picked up, who could break up this colossus? The economy had been skimming the bottom for a long time; if it weren't handled correctly, it might erupt, and then it would be troublesome, who could take on this giant? Others might not know this, but William White was very aware. After breaking up American Telecommunications, it transformed into one large, seven small entities, and humorously within a few years, even these so-called dwarves had billion-dollar market caps. Was there greed? Not really. In truth, as he told Bush Jr., he wasn't interested in these assets. Good times hadn't lasted that long for him, and he had no reason to look for trouble. These little tricks now were at most making trouble; you could also see this as a demonstration. He was simply telling those consortia, though he couldn't participate in your games, please remember, don't keep bothering me. For those consortia, there wasn't any misunderstanding. To be frank, Citibank and a bunch of Jewish consortia were getting restless. They irritated this young master, who flipped the table right away, showing no sign of reconciliation. ... They could take their time to plan, but Washington was already in chaos. Now it seemed, many things required a fresh start. As for the so-called Fair Trade Commission, let them resign themselves, which would make it less awkward. "Dad, what's this all about?" "Just threatening them a bit. Some folks have gotten too full of themselves. It's good to give them a lesson. Ha, these were all things discussed by the previous administration. Since there's a hiccup now, let's do it again." "What, start all over again?" "Why not? Lobbying companies, representatives from different powers, they are happy to see this. William White is just taking advantage of this. See, NBC isn't reporting much about it. Other TV networks follow suit. Without some force pushing this, who would bother doing it?" "That bastard did do that, and now it looks like nothing's gonna happen to him." "Haha, no way. They just can't do anything about him. Sigh, who knows how long this feud will go on?" ... Forget about how Bush Sr. was teaching his son. The group of old folks, already mad as hell, were throwing a fit. "Damn it, why is this happening? Tell me, how long are we going to stall?" When a man gone mad for money, no one cares about his ideas. "The DuPont kid, what's up with your madness? Don't play this game with us. Citibank and you are thick as thieves. Can you really say your family had no idea?" "Bastard, I've put up with you for long enough. Even the Morgan family isn't much better. Literally, Citibank was your underling. Didn't they learn from you?" "Okay, stop arguing. We're here to solve a problem today." "Oh, big talk. Are you speaking for Citibank or the Rockefeller family? If it weren't for your shenanigans, how would things have come to this?" "We're excluding what's outside." "Stop, just stop. If you continue playing saint, you can just go like your ancestors, plugged and waiting for eternity. Damn it, did you think of our interests when you made trouble? Our Mellon family will no longer care, take care of yourselves." "Haha, we from Texas won't jump in either. Y'all have fun." William White never worried about the consortia uniting. Though they had already negotiated a division agreement, there had to be conflicts of interest, and it couldn't be divided equally. Start over? Some people would love to see it. Like the Star Wars initiative, Boeing's share would be cut, and the cost of payment would be higher. Just like this incident, getting into trouble was fine, just be ready to bear it yourself. ***** https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.

Chapter 207: American Telephone and Telegraph Company

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