Per-share profit falls on investments

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Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2000 | 10:45 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- AT&T's earnings per share declined as expected in the fourth quarter despite rising revenues, as the company continued to invest heavily in its strategy to use cable TV lines for telephone and Web service.

Excluding one-time factors, the company earned $1.84 billion, or 57 cents per share, in the final three months of 1999, topping most Wall Street forecasts.

Those figures compare with an operating profit of $1.80 billion, or 68 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 1998 - including the performance of the TCI cable operation and IBM Global Network, both of which AT&T was still in the process of acquiring.

Earnings per share declined even as total earnings rose because the company issued billions of dollars worth of stock to pay for TCI and other purchases during the year.