During the 1990s, Ebbers used WorldCom’s soaring stock value to make 60 acquisitios. The most notable acquisition was the hostile takeover of MCI Communications, which was the nation’s second largest long-distance company. By 2000, Ebbers had acquired “a grab bag of telecom companies, many of which were operating pretty much separately and without the efficiencies he had promised.” Indeed, due to the failure to integrate and develop uniformity in billings, WorldCom at one time had 40 different billing systems. In total, Ebbers acquired more than 70 companies in building WorldCom into the second largest telecommunications firm in the United States. In making these acquisitions, Ebbers relied heavily on the advice of Scott Sullivan, WorldCom’s master merger strategist and chief financial officer. Sullivan was known for his very aggressive financial practices.
Just as WorldCom was experiencing explosive growth, competition in the telecommunications industry began to drive down data-service fees, and WorldCom’s annual revenue growth dropped from 19 percent in the late 1990s to nothing in 2002. WorldCom’s stock reached a high of $64.50 per share in mid-1999 but had fallen to 83 cents per share in early July of 2002. WorldCom was sinking under $28 billion in debt.
Meanwhile, Ebbers was forced out of WorldCom by the company’s board of directors. Previously WorldCom’s board had decided “to loan Ebbers $366 million to pay off margin debt so that he wouldn’t have to sell his 17 million shares of WorldCom stock.” The existence of this loan triggered an investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and led to Ebbers being pressured by WorldCom’s board of directors to resign as CEO.
What brought about this precipitous decline in the fortunes of Bernie Ebbers and WorldCom?