3 ms·
AT&T operated under the idea of a steady rate of return for its shareholders, versus simply maximizing the rate of return. So there was money to pay for the lab
by Aloha 13y ago
AT&T operated under the idea of a steady rate of return for its shareholders, versus simply maximizing the rate of return. So there was money to pay for the labs, each local bell operating company paid IIRC 1.5% of its revenues to the labs for the right to use the work they produced.
- jrochkind1 13y agoI think that's an interesting observation about changes in the past few decades in how how corporations see their responsibilities to stakeholders. I think it's true that 30-40 years ago, compared to now, corporations more often were guided by things other than simply maximizing share prices. It's not unique to AT&T, and has nothing to do with AT&T not being a publicly traded corporation, which of course it was.