AT&T Moving HQ to Dallas

debaliviere · PostJun 30, 2008#12008-06-30T13:05+00:00

I guess these guys are pretty fickle. Maybe Whitacre got turned down at an exclusive country club in San Antonio:

Friday, June 27, 2008

AT&T moving its headquarters to DallasSt. Louis Business Journal - from the Dallas Business Journal

AT&T Inc. said Friday it is moving its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas.

The phone and data services firm expects to bring about 700 of its 6,000 San Antonio employees with it. AT&T currently employs around 16,600 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"The move will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to be completed around year end," the company said in a statement.

AT&T said it is making the move to get better access to customers and operations worldwide, along with technology partners, suppliers and talent. The company's telecom operations group will remain in San Antonio.

St. Louis, Mo., will continue to be home to the company's AT&T Yellow Pages directory operations, the world's largest directory publisher, which publishes more than 100 million directories a year.

bprop · PostJun 30, 2008#22008-06-30T18:12+00:00

The Dallas airline hub was cited in a memo as one of the main reasons for the move. It was mentioned that because of the airline availability, company jets could be sold, "more than paying for" the move. It highlights another disadvantage of not being an airline hub.

jeff707 · PostJun 30, 2008#32008-06-30T18:17+00:00

San Antonio is a pretty expensive city to fly in and out of

jmedwick · PostJun 30, 2008#42008-06-30T19:25+00:00

It was interesting to read some of the Dallas articles, which cite both the airline hub and the location of other telecom companies in the area was reasons for the move. Makes the loss St. Louis and Missouri suffered more than a decade ago hurt all the more. If the state were home to both AT&T and Sprint/Nextel, then Missouri would be well positioned as a telecom leader.

debaliviere · PostJun 30, 2008#52008-06-30T19:42+00:00

JMedwick wrote:It was interesting to read some of the Dallas articles, which cite both the airline hub and the location of other telecom companies in the area was reasons for the move. Makes the loss St. Louis and Missouri suffered more than a decade ago hurt all the more. If the state were home to both AT&T and Sprint/Nextel, then Missouri would be well positioned as a telecom leader.

Although at the same time, that move hurts a little less now. Imagine if AT&T was leaving here for Dallas with all the other stuff going on here these days. It would be crazy.

jmedwick · PostJun 30, 2008#62008-06-30T19:44+00:00

^True. It would hurt more now. That said, the lost opportunity is important.

jcity · PostJul 01, 2008#72008-07-01T04:09+00:00

yikes. so our future is with the "yellow pages directory" When is the last time anyone on this board used an actual printed directory? I haven't since 95.

jlblues · PostJul 01, 2008#82008-07-01T04:31+00:00

^Yeah, but which online directory do you use?

framer · PostJul 01, 2008#92008-07-01T05:09+00:00

Actually, I use the printed directories quite often. It's usually faster and more direct than fumbling around online.

gary kreie · PostJul 03, 2008#102008-07-03T03:13+00:00

They originally said they were moving from St. Louis to San Antonio to be closer to the center of their business, which then consisted of Southwestern Bell, and Telephono Mexico. Texas Governor Ann Richards came to the Missouri office to do some persuading.

So now that they are AT&T and nationwide, they should use the same logic to move back to St. Louis to be near the center of their business. I guess the move to Dallas is bringing them a little more in this direction. In Dallas, they will just be another little drop in big bucket. With internet phones coming, and WiMax, it is hard to guess what the future is for AT&T. Are they the next Kodak?

It takes so long to get out to the Dallas airport and through the maze of terminals, I would think they could fly faster here taking Southwest Airlines.