They Might Be Giants

All that said, WorldCom is clearly a force to be reckoned with. Wall Street certainly thinks so. Analysts are fond of noting that $100 invested in WorldCom a decade ago would be worth $2,378 today. (The same sum invested in AT&T would be worth $158.) If its Internet bets pay off, WorldCom may even get some headlines.

BIG DEALS AT WORLDCOM

The cold-war "hot line" linking Washington to Moscow was run by a little company that became WorldCom. Recent deals:

1997: After a $1.2 billion stock swap with H&R Block and an asset shuffle with American Online, WorldCom ends up with the Internet "backbones" of both AOL and CompuServe

1996: Worldcom pays $14 billions for MFS Communications and gets its giant Internet provider UUNET Technologies.

1995: $2.5 billion merger with Williams Telecommunications Group brings an 11,000-mile fiber-optic cable network.