Alex J Mandl

Two years ago, Alex J. Mandl did the unthinkable. Throwing away the perks and power of his post as AT&T Corp.'s president and chief operating officer, Mandl left the telecommunications giant in August 1996 to join Vienna, Va.-based Teligent Inc. Today, the upstart phone company is flush with cash and radio spectrum and is expected to launch its wireless Internet, phone and data network in Los Angeles this week and 14 other major cities by the end of the year.

Two years ago, Alex J. Mandl did the unthinkable. Throwing away the perks and power of his post as AT&T Corp.'s president and chief operating officer, Mandl left the telecommunications giant in August 1996 to join Vienna, Va.-based Teligent Inc. Today, the upstart phone company is flush with cash and radio spectrum and is expected to launch its wireless Internet, phone and data network in Los Angeles this week and 14 other major cities by the end of the year.

Alex J. Mandl, widely considered to be next in line for the top spot at AT&T, abruptly resigned as president of the telecommunications giant Monday to lead a new wireless communications venture. The departure of Mandl, 52, for Associated Communications, which aims to develop wireless voice and high-speed data services in major metropolitan areas, marks the latest round in a game of management musical chairs now gripping the fast-growing telecommunications industry.

Alex J. Mandl, widely considered to be next in line for the top spot at AT&T, abruptly resigned as president of the telecommunications giant Monday to lead a new wireless communications venture. The departure of Mandl, 52, for Associated Communications, which aims to develop wireless voice and high-speed data services in major metropolitan areas, marks the latest round in a game of management musical chairs now gripping the fast-growing telecommunications industry.

AT&T hired a top executive from long-distance rival Sprint to oversee its information systems, the company said Thursday. Ron J. Ponder, 50, will become senior vice president and chief information officer of AT&T. He had been chief information officer at Sprint since 1991 and at Federal Express before that. Ponder will report to AT&T's chief financial officer, Alex J. Mandl, at the company's headquarters in Basking Ridge, N.J.

AT&T Corp.'s board of directors met Wednesday to ponder the selection of a new chief executive--a pivotal decision that could determine the future direction of the beleaguered phone giant--but broke up without an announcement. Speculation on a successor to Robert E. Allen has focused largely on two contenders--insider John D. Zeglis, AT&T vice chairman, and outsider C. Michael Armstrong, chief executive of Hughes Electronics Corp., a Los Angeles-based unit of General Motors Corp.

Teligent Inc., which lost more than $1 billion building an advanced wireless communications network, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, becoming the latest in a string of upstart phone companies to collapse in recent months. The company, based in Vienna, Va., said in a statement that it has interim agreements with lenders to fund its operations during the bankruptcy process. Teligent filed its petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, listing $1.

This is a preliminary list of corporate executives planning to attend this year's highly coveted Sun Valley Conference, where media moguls and other corporate bigwigs rub shoulders, ride the rapids and often wind up making the biggest of the big entertainment deals. Allegheny & Western Energy Corp., John G. McMillian, chairman Amelior Foundation, Raymond G. Chambers, chairman America Online Inc., Steve Case, chairman and CEO Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Dwayne O.

The Soviet Union's planned economic reforms will put the country on the road to capitalism and make it a major growth market for U.S. exports, a delegation of American businessmen said Thursday after four days of talks with Soviet officials. "Capitalism is clearly coming to the Soviet Union, and it is equally clear that Wall Street will come to the Soviet Union shortly thereafter," Donald B. Marron, chairman and chief executive of Paine Webber Group, Inc., declared.

Tapping a relative unknown to solve its high-profile problems, AT&T Corp. surprised the business world Wednesday by naming John R. Walter, 49-year-old chairman of commercial printer R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., as the telephone giant's new president, chief operating officer and heir to Chairman and Chief Executive Robert E. Allen.