WorldCom

MCI Inc.

Trading name	Verizon Enterprise Solutions Verizon Business
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Fate	acquired by Verizon Communications since 2006
Founded	1983
Headquarters	Ashburn, Virginia, U.S.
Key people	Francis J. Shammo, President Kerry T. Bailey, Senior Vice President—Global Services Rommel Santos, CFO
Products	Conferencing, Contact Centers, Data and IP Services, Internet access, IT Solutions and Hosting, Managed Networks, Premises Equipment (CPE), Security, Voice, VoIP, Wireless
Revenue	US$20.6 billion (2005)
Number of employees	30,000+
Parent	Verizon Communications (2006–present)
Website	Verizon Enterprise Solutions mci.com

MCI, Inc. (d/b/a Verizon Business) was an American telecommunication corporation, currently a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, with its main office in Ashburn, Virginia. The corporation was formed originally as a result of the merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications corporations, and used the name MCI WorldCom, succeeded by WorldCom, before changing its name to the present version on April 12, 2003, as part of the corporation's ending of its bankruptcy status. The company traded on NASDAQ as WCOM (pre-bankruptcy) and MCIP (post-bankruptcy). The corporation was purchased by Verizon Communications with the deal finalizing on January 6, 2006, and is now identified as that company's Verizon Enterprise Solutions division with the local residential divisions being integrated slowly into local Verizon subsidiaries.

For a time WorldCom was the United States's second largest long distance telephone company (after AT&T). WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunications companies, most notably MCI Communications. It also owned the Tier 1 ISP UUNET, a major part of the internet backbone. It was headquartered in Clinton, Mississippi, before being relocated to Virginia.

The company began as Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. (LDDS) during 1983, based in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1985 LDDS selected Bernard Ebbers to be its CEO. The company became traded publicly as a corporation in 1989 as a result of a merger with Advantage Companies Inc. The company name was changed to LDDS WorldCom in 1995, and relocated to Clinton, Mississippi.

The company grew rapidly in the 1990s. Among the companies that were bought or merged with WorldCom were Advanced Communications Corp. (1992), Metromedia Communication Corp. (1993), Resurgens Communications Group (1993), IDB Communications Group, Inc (1994), Williams Technology Group, Inc. (1995), and MFS Communications Company (1996), and MCI in 1998. The acquisition of MFS included UUNET Technologies, Inc., which had been acquired by MFS shortly before the merger with WorldCom. In February 1998, WorldCom purchased—by a complex transaction—online pioneer company CompuServe from its parent company H&R Block. WorldCom then retained the CompuServe Network Services Division, sold its online service to America Online, and received AOL's network division, ANS. The acquisition of Digex (DIGX) during June 2001 was also complex; WorldCom acquired Digex's corporate parent, Intermedia Communications, and then sold all of Intermedia's non-Digex assets to Allegiance Telecom.