AT&T dropped a bombshell Friday by announcing it's taking its headquarters out of San Antonio and moving it to Dallas.
AT&T is the world's largest telecommunications company, and one of San Antonio's largest employers. AT&T said the move would begin in the coming weeks and is expected to be complete around year's end.
The decision to move AT&T's headquarters will affect 700 workers in San Antonio. Some insiders told News 4 employees have been gathering, some even crying, wondering what their families are going to do.
The workers said they found out about the company's move to Dallas by email just after 1:30 p.m. Friday. AT&T plans to move 700 workers, mostly from the legal, finance, and other corporate departments.
A spokesman from the telecommunications company told News 4 AT&T is growing, and the move to Dallas is a strategic decision to get better access to it's customers, suppliers, and operations throughout the world.
"Dallas is home to 2 major airports, Dallas/Fort Worth and Dallas Love Field," said Marc Bien of AT&T. "Giving non-stop service to 35 international destinations, about 160 domestic destinations. Allowing us to stay in better touch with our employees, our customers, and our operations worldwide."
Bien said more than 5,000 employees will remain in San Antonio, and San Antonio will remain one of the largest employee operation centers in Texas. Sources told News 4 they should learn more about the workers impacted by the changes by next week.
"San Antonio is a great city with much to offer, and it's been good for AT&T," said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. He added, "San Antonio will continue to be a major operations and employment center for us."
Local Officials React to News of AT&T's Move
County Judge Nelson Wolff told News 4 he learned about the company's decision Friday morning in a phone call from AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson.
News 4 spoke with local leaders, who said they did everything they could to get AT&T to stay.
Judge Wolff told News 4 that AT&T's decision came as a surprise. Just two days ago, Judge Wolff and Mayor Hardberger met with Stephenson to talk about the company's growth.
During that meeting, Wolff said they discussed efforts to expand direct flights out of San Antonio, so it would be easier for executives to travel on business. They also talked about partnering with AT&T to build a parking garage for some of the company's employees.
Wolff said he got no indication during that meeting that the Stephenson planned to recommend the company move to Dallas.
"It is a blow to lose a major Fortune 500 company," said Wolff. "It hurts, but we're going to be okay. We're going to be okay."
Judge Wolff said AT&T outgrew San Antonio. He added that while San Antonio will likely never be a major regional hub like Dallas, he expects this area will continue to attract large-scale companies.
AT&T Moved Headquarters To S.A. in 1992
AT&T first moved to San Antonio in 1992, when it was known as Southwestern Bell.
At the time, it was the largest corporate move in San Antonio's history, bringing 500 jobs. In fact, Southwestern Bell chose San Antonio over Dallas, Houston and Austin.
The company later changed its name to SBC Communications, and then just SBC. The company changed names, again, to AT&T in late 2005.
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