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Verizon purchase means loss of Arkansas corporate citizen Saturday, Jun 7, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Verizon Wireless' pending $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel Corp. marks the end of an era in Arkansas. What became a Fortune 500 company and the nation's fifth-largest wireless telephone company started as a small, rural landline telephone company in Little Rock 65 years ago. Founded in 1943 by Hugh Randolph Wilbourne Jr., Allied Telephone Co. became Alltel after it merged with Mid-Continent Telephone 40 years later in the first of many changes it would endure as the telephone business became increasingly high tech. Through every transformation, the company's Little Rock roots and commitment to the state remained strong, through its ushering into New Jersey-based Verizon by CEO Scott Ford, the son of the Allied founder's son-in-law, Joe Ford. Just last year, former CEO Joe Ford and his wife, Jo Ellen, donated $1 million to the Arkansas Cancer Research Center in Little Rock. The gift is one of several given by Alltel and its officials over the years to support community efforts. The company's name graces an 18,000-seat stadium in North Little Rock constructed in 1999 as the crown jewel of an effort to revitalize the two cities' downtown areas. Perhaps the contribution most cognizant in the state's mind on the heels of the deal's announcement Thursday is the more than 3,000 paychecks Alltel regularly writes its Arkansas employees. Arkansas will miss Alltel. "When you have a nationally recognized company's headquarters in your area, that is very important for the overall branding of your area," University of Arkansas economist Kathy Deck said Thursday after the sale was announced. "It's really hard to replace them in the public consciousness, and in terms of the leadership that they bring to community organizations, even to further economic development in the state," she said. Scott Ford did his best to downplay the merger's effects Thursday while discussing the deal with reporters. "It's not a funeral, it's a transition," he said. Brief glimpses into the "bittersweet" emotions the third-generation leader of the company was feeling were quickly dashed by his words as a hard-nosed businessman. "Look, it doesn't really matter how I felt about it," Scott Ford said. "My duties are not to be the CEO based upon my emotions, based upon my friendships, based upon what makes my life comfortable." As the signal fades on Alltel's existence as one of Arkansas' corporate mainstays, the state welcomes New Jersey-based Verizon, waiting to see to what extent it will incorporate Alltel presence into its operation. In a statement Thursday welcoming Verizon, Gov. Mike Beebe praised Alltel's "qualified, dedicated employees" and the company's deep Arkansas roots, a clear signal the state wants to keep as much of the operation in Little Rock as it can. Beebe said Friday state officials plan to sit down with Verizon officials. "We certainly want to make them aware of the fact that Arkansas wants to keep them here, want to keep all the workers here and wants to keep their presence here," the governor said. The two companies expect the deal to close toward the end of the year, after which most of the Alltel leadership will leave the business and Alltel signage and activity will cease in Arkansas and around the nation. "This is part of the commercial enterprise that we chose to live in," Scott Ford said. |
