WorldCom Timeline

Sept. 1983- Bernard Ebbers and partners jump into the long distance market with LDDS

Jan. 1984- LDDS begins service

1985- Bernard Ebbers named CEO

1988-1994- Fast growth with the acquisition of telecommunications companies

1989- LDDS Goes Public

1992- LDDS merges with Advanced Telecommunications Corp. Scott Sullivan, Advanced Telecommunications CFO, joins LDDS

1995- LDDS Changes name to WorldCom

Dec. 1995- WorldCom signs Michael Jordan to promote long distance service

March 1996- S&P 500 Index announces it will list WorldCom

Dec. 1998- Merger with MFS Communications Co. Includes UUNet, Inc., the internet backbone Feb. 1998- Merger with CompuServe

Sept. 1998- Merger with MCI. At the time, the largest merger in history

1999- Forbes list Bernard Ebbers as the 174th richest man in the US. The 376th richest man in the world

June 1999- Stock reaches its high- $96.76

Oct. 1999- Agrees to purchase Sprint for $115 billion in stock

July 2000- Department of Justice ruled against the Sprint merger

Nov. 2000- Cuts revenue projections for 2002. Reveals plans to turn MCI into a tracking stock

January 2001- Stock closes below $10

July 2001- President Bush invites Bernard Ebbers to serve on the White House National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee

Feb. 2002- Cuts projections for 2002. Discloses Bernard Ebbers owes the company $408 million in loans

March 2002- SEC begins inquiry into accounting practices.

April 2002- Bernard Ebbers resigns as CEO of WorldCom. WorldCom cuts 3,700 jobs- 4% of workforce

May 2002- MCI tracking sock is removed

May 14, 2002- 670 million shares of WorldCom stock are traded- a world record

June 2002- CFO Scott Sullivan fired. Company announces 17,000 job cut- 20% of work force

June 21, 2002- Wall Street analyst Jack Grubman downgrades WorldCom stock

June 24, 2002- Negative report by financial analyst causes WorldCom shares to fall below $1

June 25, 2002- WorldCom discloses accounting fraud.

July 13, 2002- 25 banks file lawsuit to request an immediate freeze of $2.65 billion of WorldCom assets

July 21, 2002 - WorldCom files the largest bankruptcy in US history