WORLDCOM'S COLLAPSE: THE OVERVIEW; WORLDCOM FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY; LARGEST U.S.

CASE
By SIMON ROMERO and RIVA D. ATLAS Published: July 22, 2002

WorldCom, plagued by the rapid erosion of its profits and an accounting scandal that created billions in illusory earnings, last night submitted the largest bankruptcy filing in United States history. The bankruptcy is expected to shake an already wobbling telecommunications industry, but is unlikely to have an immediate impact on customers, including the 20 million users of its MCI longdistance service. The WorldCom filing listed more than $107 billion in assets, far surpassing those of Enron, which filed for bankruptcy last December. The WorldCom filing had been anticipated since the company disclosed in late June that it had improperly accounted for more than $3.8 billion of expenses. Few experts or officials expect WorldCom's service to deteriorate noticeably, at least in the near term. ''I want to assure the public that we do not believe this bankruptcy filing will lead to an immediate disruption of service to consumers,'' Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said last night. But industry consultants said they could not imagine how the belt-tightening expected in bankruptcy would improve service that is already, in some respects, sloppy. [Page A12.]
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WorldCom's collapse has already reverberated through jittery financial markets, and is likely to be felt in the wider economy, with banks, suppliers and other telephone companies devising strategies to contain their exposure. WorldCom, built through rapid acquisitions, accumulated $41 billion in debts. Founded in 1983 as LDDS Communications, it became the nation's second-largest long-distance company and the largest handler of Internet data. Company executives said they intended to remain in business, and have been promised new financing from banks to do so. ''We are going to aggressively go forward and restructure our operations,'' John W. Sidgmore, WorldCom's chief executive, said in an interview last night. ''I think ultimately we will emerge as a stronger company.'' While WorldCom has already cut its work force significantly, Mr. Sidgmore said last night that he did not expect further layoffs for the time being. He said he would remain WorldCom's chief but would be joined by a chief restructuring officer brought in by creditors.

Some creditors, however, have questioned whether Mr. Sidgmore, who has served on WorldCom's board for years, should remain in charge. Mr. Sidgmore took over as chief executive in late April after the board ousted Bernard J. Ebbers, one of the company's founders. Shareholders, who owned what was once one of the world's most valuable companies, worth more than $100 billion at its peak, are expected to be virtually wiped out. With the bankruptcy filing, control passes instead to the banks and bondholders who financed WorldCom's growth. Besides its own overambitious strategies and flawed accounting, WorldCom also fell victim to a glut of telecommunications capacity. Cheap and plentiful financing allowed companies rapidly to build transcontinental and transoceanic fiber optic networks in the 1990's. The additional capacity resulted in lower prices for WorldCom's services, which include basic phone service and the transmission of Internet data for large companies. Mr. Sidgmore said last night that he was opposed to breaking up WorldCom and selling its pieces, aside from an effort already under way to part with peripheral units like businesses in Latin America and some other operations. This approach would rule out selling UUNet, a large Internet backbone operation, or MCI. But once the company reorganizes, and investors gain a better understanding of its twisted finances, WorldCom could become an attractive acquisition target, analysts say. WorldCom's crisis deepened last month when it disclosed that Scott D. Sullivan, the chief financial officer, had devised a strategy that improperly accounted for $3.85 billion of expenses. Mr. Sullivan was fired by the board and David F. Myers, the financial controller, resigned. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged WorldCom with fraud and the Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation of its business practices. In an attempt to regain its credibility, WorldCom's board elected two new members to replace Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Ebbers: Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, a private attorney who was attorney general in the Johnson administration; and Dennis R. Beresford, a former head of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and a professor of accounting at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. The two were also appointed to a special committee to oversee the internal investigation being led by William R. McLucas, the former chief of the enforcement division of the S.E.C. WorldCom filed for bankruptcy shortly before 9 last night in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Its international operations, which include companies in Brazil and Mexico, were not included.

The filing will relieve WorldCom of about $2 billion of interest payments in the coming year. Lower debt costs could allow WorldCom to compete on a stronger footing with its rivals, involving a potential price-cutting strategy that has analysts concerned about the wider strength of the telecommunications industry. ''WorldCom probably won't get any new big contracts from its current customers, but it probably won't lose any either, because of the difficulty and complexity involved in switching carriers,'' said Glen Macdonald, a vice president with Adventis, a consulting firm in Boston. WorldCom, based in Clinton, Miss., scrambled in recent days to secure new financing from its banks after its cash dwindled to less than $300 million from more than $2 billion in May. WorldCom said last night that it had received commitments for up to $2 billion in additional bank financing. Such new loans to companies in bankruptcy receive top priority in repayment. WorldCom must now deal with holders of $28 billion in bonds as well as 27 banks that loaned the company $2.65 billion last May. But in contrast with other companies that have recently filed for bankruptcy, including Enron, WorldCom has many more tangible assets, generating actual revenues, lawyers said -- improving the odds that the company could emerge from bankruptcy as a going concern. The creditors first in line to be repaid will be the three institutions -- Citigroup, J. P. Morgan and General Electric Capital -- that have pledged to arrange a loan of up to $2 billion, known as debtor in possession financing, to WorldCom. The lenders were comfortable pledging the funds in part because of the company's stream of customer payments, such as phone bills, one executive close to the company said last week. Citigroup is leading the new financing in part to protect what it is already owed by WorldCom. WorldCom's bankruptcy filing, like Enron's last December, came on a Sunday. Companies often prefer to file over the weekend, because the status of any business transactions in process at the time of a filing would be open to question in court. WorldCom's lenders and its bondholders were taking steps, even before the bankruptcy filing, to protect their claims. Just over a week ago, the banks that participated in the earlier $2.65 billion loan tried, unsuccessfully, to get a court order limiting WorldCom's access to the loan. The banks ultimately reached a settlement with WorldCom that placed few restrictions on the company's ability to use the cash.

WorldCom Scandal: A Look Back at One of the Biggest Corporate Scandals in U.S. History
Mar 8, 2007

In 1998, the telecommunications industry began to slow down and WorldCom's stock was declining. CEO Bernard Ebbers came under increasing pressure from banks to cover margin calls on his WorldCom stock that was used to finance his other businesses endeavors (timber, yachting, etc.). The company's profitability took another hit when it was forced to abandon its proposed merger with Sprint in late 2000. During 2001, Ebbers persuaded WorldCom's board of directors to provide him corporate loans and guarantees totaling more than $400 million. Ebbers wanted to cover the margin calls, but this strategy ultimately failed and Ebbers was ousted as CEO in April 2002. Beginning in 1999 and continuing through May 2002, WorldCom (under the direction of Scott Sullivan (CFO), David Myers (Controller) and Buford Yates (Director of General Accounting)) used shady accounting methods to mask its declining financial condition by falsely professing financial growth and profitability to increase the price of WorldCom's stock. The fraud was accomplished in two main ways. First, WorldCom's accounting department underreported 'line costs' (interconnection expenses with other telecommunication companies) by capitalizing these costs on the balance sheet rather than properly expensing them. Second, the company inflated revenues with bogus accounting entries from 'corporate unallocated revenue accounts'. The first discovery of possible illegal activity was by WorldCom's own internal audit department who uncovered approximately $3.8 billion of the fraud in June 2002. The company's audit committee and board of directors were notified of the fraud and acted swiftly: Sullivan was fired, Myers resigned, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation. By the end of 2003, it was estimated that the company's total assets had been inflated by around $11 billion (WorldCom, 2005). On July 21, 2002, WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history. The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004 with about $5.7 billion in debt. At last count, WorldCom has yet to pay its creditors, many of whom have waited years for the money owed.

On March 15, 2005 Bernard Ebbers was found guilty of all charges and convicted on fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents with regulators. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Other former WorldCom officials charged with criminal penalties in relation to the company's financial misstatements include former CFO Scott Sullivan (entered a guilty plea on March 2, 2004 to one count each of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing false statements), former controller David Myers (pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing false statements on September 27, 2002), former accounting director Buford Yates (pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges on October 7, 2002), and former accounting managers Betty Vinson and Troy Normand (both pleading guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud on October 10, 2002) (MCI, 2006). Ebbers reported to prison on September 26, 2006 to begin serving his sentence.

WorldCom files largest bankruptcy ever Nation's No. 2 long-distance company in Chapter 11 -- largest with $107 billion in assets. July 22, 2002: 10:35 AM EDT By Luisa Beltran, CNN/Money staff writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - WorldCom, the nation's No. 2 long-distance phone company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Sunday, nearly one month after it revealed that it had improperly booked $3.8 billion in expenses.

WorldCom, crushed by its $41 billion debt load, made its filing in the Southern District of New York. With $107 billion in assets, WorldCom's bankruptcy is the largest in United States history, dwarfing that of Enron Corp. The Houston-based energy trader listed $63.4 billion in assets when it filed Chapter 11 late last year. WorldCom's non-U.S. units were not included in the filing.

Bankruptcy had long been expected for WorldCom. Under Chapter 11, the company can continue to operate while it develops a reorganization plan. WorldCom last week lined up $2 billion in debtor-inpossession financing from Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and G.E. Capital that will allow it to operate while in bankruptcy.

That financing still must be approved by the bankruptcy court. WorldCom already has secured a $750 million commitment from its lenders. The additional funds will allow the company to satisfy obligations, including payment of new services, employee wages and other obligations.

The bankruptcy would have no immediate effect on its customers, according to statements from both the company and Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

"I want to assure the public that we do not believe this bankruptcy filing will lead to an immediate disruption of service to consumers or threaten the operation of WorldCom's Internet backbone facilities," Powell said. "This Commission stands ready to intervene in bankruptcy proceedings as necessary to ensure that the bankruptcy court is aware of and considers our public interest concerns."

WorldCom, which operates the world's largest Internet network, employs 60,000 people in 65 countries.

"We will use this time under reorganization to regain our financial health and focus, while operating with the highest integrity," CEO John Sidgmore stated. "We will emerge from Chapter 11 as quickly as possible and with our competitive spirit in tact."

The embattled telecom also said Sunday that it elected two members to its board: Nicholas deB. Katzenbach and Dennis R. Beresford. Katzenbach is a former U.S. attorney general and former general counsel of IBM Corp. Beresford currently is a professor of accounting at the University of Georgia and a former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Katzenbach and Beresford will serve on a special investigative panel to review WorldCom's accounting practices. From success story to disaster story Clinton, Miss.-based WorldCom (WCOME: Research, Estimates) has teetered on the verge of bankruptcy since revealing on June 25 that it had incorrectly accounted for $3.8 billion in operating expenses. The admission cast WorldCom into the top tier of scandal-ridden companies alongside Tyco International, Global Crossing, Adelphia Communications and, of course, Enron. WorldCom's fortunes began declining in late 1999 when businesses slashed spending on telecom services and equipment. In April, CEO Bernie Ebbers resigned when questions arose about $366 million in his personal loans from the company. Ebbers entered the long-distance telephone business in 1983 with a Jackson, Miss., company known as LDDS. He grew the company through a series of acquisitions and changed its name to WorldCom in 1995. In 1998, he bought MCI, the nation's No. 2 long-distance provider behind AT&T Corp. (T: Research, Estimates), for $37 billion. WorldCom had been seen as one of the success stories of the 1990s. Three years ago the company used its lofty stock price to make a bid for competitor Sprint Corp. in a $129 billion deal. But regulators blocked the deal and a softening market for telecom services weakened the company's performance. The Chapter 11 filing will provide WorldCom with some relief. The company has struggled with its $41 billion in debt, $24 billion of which is in bonds. Once its problems came to light in June, many of its banks refused to provide the company with any more money, unless it was secured with WorldCom assets. WorldCom's creditors are estimated at more than 1,000, according to the bankruptcy filing. Included in the top 50 are J.P Morgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston.

WorldCom Fraud Information WorldCom Fraud Information In June 2002, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyers filed civil fraud charges against WorldCom for what would later be estimated at over $9 billion worth of accounting errors.

When was the fraud discovered?

While the current suit wasnt filed until June 2002, it is apparent that some in the public were aware of illegal practices at WorldCom over a year earlier. A previous lawsuit was filed in June 2001 by several WorldCom shareholders, only to be thrown out. That suit included testimony from a dozen former WorldCom employees, detailing the same problems that would eventually bring about the companys downfall.

How was the fraud committed?

Financial executives at WorldCom exercised various methods of hiding expenses for a period of more than two years between 2000 and 2002. They delayed reporting some expenses and misrepresented others to give investors the appearance of growth during secretly hard times.

What is the current status of the case?

The Justice Department has brought criminal charges against several company executives, four of which have pled guilty. Meanwhile, the SEC continues to pursue the civil case that it filed in June. So far, they have uncovered more than $9 billion in erroneous accounting. This has led to a partial settlement for an undisclosed fine and the right to continued government oversight of company operations.

The court-appointed monitor for WorldComs affairs, Richard Breeden, said that this settlement represents a step in the right direction, but expects more company resignations as the case is pursued further. Former chief financial officer Scott Sullivan maintains his innocence in the face of an indictment, and other executives are suspected but have yet to be charged directly.

MCI Inc.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about LDDS, which later changed its name to WorldCom and purchased MCI Communications. For other uses, see MCI (disambiguation).

It has been suggested that Verizon Business be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2011.

MCI Inc.

Type

Subsidiary

Industry

Telecommunications

Founded

1983

Headquarters Ashburn, Virginia, USA

Key people

Francis J. Shammo President Kerry T. Bailey Senior Vice President Global Services John F. Killian - 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

$21.2 billion USD (2007)

Employees

30,000+

Parent

Verizon (2006-present)

Website

verizonbusiness.commci.com

MCI, Inc. (d/b/a Verizon Business) is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia. The corporation was originally formed as a result of the merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications, and used the name MCI WorldCom followed by WorldCom before taking its final name on April 12, 2003 as part of the corporation's emergence from bankruptcy. The company formerly traded on NASDAQ under the symbols "WCOM" (pre-bankruptcy) and "MCIP" (post-bankruptcy). The corporation was purchased by Verizon Communications with the deal closing on January 6, 2006,[1] and is now identified as that company's Verizon Business division with the local residential divisions slowly integrated into local Verizon subsidiaries. MCI's history, combined with the histories of companies it has acquired, echoes most of the trends that have swept American telecommunications in the past half-century: It was instrumental in pushing legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly that dominated American telephony; its purchase by WorldCom and subsequent bankruptcy in the face of accounting scandals was symptomatic of the Internet excesses of the late 1990s. It accepted a proposed purchase by Verizon for US$7.6 billion. For a time, WorldCom was the United States's second largest long distance phone company (after AT&T). WorldCom grew largely by aggressively acquiring other telecommunications companies, most notably MCI Communications. It also owned the Tier 1 ISPUUNET, a major part of the Internet backbone.[citation needed] It was headquartered in Clinton, Mississippi, before being moved to Virginia.[2][3]

Contents
*hide+

1 History

o o o o o o

1.1 Corporate founding 1.2 MCI acquisition 1.3 Proposed Sprint merger 1.4 Accounting scandals 1.5 Bankruptcy 1.6 Post-bankruptcy

2 In the media 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit]History [edit]Corporate

founding

The company began as Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. (LDDS) in 1983, based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In 1985 LDDS selected Bernard Ebbers to be its CEO. The company went public in 1989 through a merger with Advantage Companies Inc. The company name was changed to LDDS WorldCom in 1995, and later just WorldCom. The companys growth under WorldCom was fueled primarily through acquisitions during the 1990s and reached its apex with the acquisition of MCI in 1998. 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). The acquisition of MFS includedUUNET Technologies, Inc., which had been acquired by MFS shortly before the merger with WorldCom. In February 1998, a complex transaction saw WorldCom purchase online pioneer 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) in 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.

[edit]MCI

acquisition

MCI WorldCom logo (Used from 19982000)

On November 4, 1997, WorldCom and MCI Communications announced their US$37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom, making it the largest merger in US history. On September 15, 1998 the new company, MCI WorldCom, opened for business, after MCI divested itself of its successful "internetMCI" business to gain approval from US DOJ.[4]

[edit]Proposed

Sprint merger

WorldCom logo (Used from 20002003)

On October 5, 1999 Sprint Corporation and MCI WorldCom announced a $129 billion merger agreement between the two companies. Had the deal been completed, it would have been the largest corporate merger in history, ultimately putting MCI WorldCom ahead of AT&T as the largest communications company in the United States. However, the deal did not go through because of pressure from the US Department of Justice and the European Union on concerns of it creating a monopoly. On July 13, 2000, the boards of directors of both companies terminated the merger. Later that year, MCI WorldCom renamed itself to simply "WorldCom" without Sprint being part of the company.

[edit]Accounting

scandals

CEO Bernard Ebbers became very wealthy from the rising price of his holdings in WorldCom common stock.[5] However, in the year 2000, the telecommunications industry entered a downturn and WorldComs aggressive growth strategy suffered a serious setback when it was forced by the US Justice Department to abandon its proposed merger with Sprint in mid 2000.[5] By that time, WorldComs stock price was declining and Ebbers came under increasing pressure from banks to cover margin calls on his WorldCom stock that was used to finance his other businesses (timber and yachting, among others).[5] During 2001, Ebbers persuaded WorldComs board of directors to provide him corporate loans and guarantees in excess of $400 million to cover his margin calls.[5] The board hoped that the loans would avert the need for Ebbers to sell substantial

amounts of his WorldCom stock, as his doing so would put further downward pressure in the stock's price. However, this strategy ultimately failed and Ebbers was ousted as CEO in April 2002 and replaced by John Sidgmore, former CEO of UUNET Technologies, Inc. Beginning modestly in mid-year 1999 and continuing at an accelerated pace through May 2002, the company (under the direction of Ebbers, Scott Sullivan (CFO), David Myers (Comptroller) and Buford "Buddy" Yates (Director of General Accounting)) used fraudulent accounting methods to mask its declining earnings by painting a false picture of financial growth and profitability to prop up the price of WorldComs stock. [5] The fraud was accomplished primarily in two ways: 1. Booking line costs (interconnection expenses with other telecommunication companies) as capital on the balance sheet instead of expenses. 2. Inflating revenues with bogus accounting entries from "corporate unallocated revenue accounts". In 2002, a small team of internal auditors at WorldCom worked together, often at night and in secret, to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud.[6][7][8] Shortly thereafter, the companys audit committee and board of directors were notified of the fraud and acted swiftly: Sullivan was fired, Myers resigned, Arthur Andersen withdrew its audit opinion for 2001, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into these matters on June 26, 2002 (see accounting scandals). By the end of 2003, it was estimated that the company's total assets had been inflated by around $11 billion. [5]

[edit]Bankruptcy
On July 21, 2002, WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history at the time (since overtaken by the collapses of bothLehman Brothers and Washington Mutual in a span of eleven days in September 2008). The WorldCom bankruptcy proceedings were held before U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez who simultaneously heard the Enron bankruptcy proceedings which were the second largest bankruptcy case resulting from one of the largest corporate fraud scandals. None of the criminal proceedings against WorldCom and its officers and agents was originated by referral from Gonzalez or the Department of Justice lawyers. On April 14, 2003, WorldCom changed its name to MCI and moved its corporate headquarters from Clinton, Mississippi, to Dulles, Virginia. Under the bankruptcy reorganization agreement, the company paid $750 million to the SEC in cash and stock in the new MCI, which was intended to be paid to wronged investors. In May 2003, the company was given a no-bid contract by the United States Department of Defense to build a cellular telephone network in Iraq. The deal has been criticized by competitors and others who cite the company's lack of experience in the area.

The SEC and Worldcom reached a deal in which Worldcom agreed to pay a civil penalty of $2.25 billion. The deal was approved by federal judge Jed Rakoff in July 2003.[9] In a sweeping consent decree, the SEC and Rakoff essentially took control of Worldcom. Rakoff appointed former SEC chairman Richard C. Breeden to oversee Worldcom's compliance with the SEC agreement. Breeden actively involved himself in the management of the company, and prepared a report for Rakoff, titled Restoring Trust, in which he proposed extensive corporate governance reforms, as part of an effort to "cast the new MCI into what he hoped would become a model of how shareholders should be protected and how companies should be run."[10]

[edit]Post-bankruptcy

Bernard Ebbers

The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004 with about $5.7 billion in debt and $6 billion in cash. About half of the cash was intended to pay various claims and settlements. Previous bondholders ended up being paid 35.7 cents on the dollar, in bonds and stock in the new MCI company. The previous stockholders' stock was cancelled, making it totally worthless. It had yet to pay many of its creditors, who had waited for two years for a portion of the money owed. Many of the small creditors included former employees, primarily those who were laid off in June 2002 and whose severance and benefits were withheld when WorldCom filed for bankruptcy. On August 7, 2002, the exWorldCom 5100 group was launched. It was composed of former WorldCom employees with a common goal of seeking full payment of severance pay and benefits based on the WorldCom Severance Plan. The "5100" stands for the number of WorldCom employees laid off on June 28, 2002 before WorldCom filed for bankruptcy.[11] On February 14, 2005, Verizon Communications agreed to acquire MCI for $7.6 billion. On March 15, 2005 Bernard Ebbers was found guilty of all charges and convicted of fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents with regulatorsall related to the $11 billion accounting scandal at the telecommunications company he founded. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Other former WorldCom officials charged with

criminal penalties in relation to the company's financial misstatements include former CFO Scott Sullivan (entered a guilty plea on March 2, 2004 to one count each of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing false statements),[12] former comptroller David Myers (pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing false statements on September 27, 2002), [13] former accounting director Buford Yates (pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges on October 7, 2002),[14] and former accounting managers Betty Vinson and Troy Normand (both pleading guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud on October 10, 2002).[15] On July 13, 2005 Bernard Ebbers received a sentence that would keep him imprisoned for 25 years. At time of sentencing, Ebbers was 63 years old. On September 26, 2006, Ebbers turned himself in to the Federal Bureau of Prisons prison at Oakdale, Louisiana, the Oakdale Federal Corrections Institution to begin serving his sentence. In March 2005, 16 of WorldCom's 17 former underwriters reached settlements with the investors.[16] Citigroup settled for $2.65 billion on May 10, 2004.[17] In December 2005, the Microsoft corporation announced that MCI will join it by providing Windows Live Messenger customers "Voice Over Internet Protocol" (VoIP) service to make telephone calls. This was MCI's last new productcalled "MCI Web Calling". After the merger, this product was renamed "Verizon Web Calling".