As a low-margin business, WorldCom needed to
grow to survive and at its peak in 1997 it paid $37 billion (£24.3 billion) to take over telecommunications
giant MCI, snatching the business under the jealous gaze of Britain’s BT. In June
2002 the firm reported accounting irregularities which had overvalued its income by a “mere”
$43.3 billion, making the firm look profitable when it was not