Charles L. Brown, the retired chairman and CEO of the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company, has died at the age of 82 following a lengthy illness. Before retiring in August 1986, Brown had headed one of the largest corporations in U.S. history.
In 1982, Brown made the decision to divest all of the Bell Telephone Companies as a means of settling antitrust litigation with the federal government. His action produced the largest corporate reorganization in history. He also led AT&T’s initial efforts to establish business units and partnerships in Europe and Asia.
The January 1, 1984, “divestiture” of AT&T unleashed a wave of deregulation and market competition that continues today in customers’ ability to choose their telephone equipment and services. At the time of the breakup, AT&T had some 975,000 employees. The company formally changed its name to AT&T Corporation in 1994. Until the breakup, AT&T had consisted of the Bell System’s vertically integrated telephone research and equipment-manufacturing units, its local telephone operating companies — which provided most of the nation’s local telephone service — as well as its long-distance operations and other services.
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