AT&T; Management Shake-Up in the Works

AT&T; Corp. Chief Operating Officer John Walter is scrapping the company’s plan to regionalize consumer and small-business marketing and sales and may eliminate an entire level of management, two sources close to the company said. “There will be job cuts, and those will be explained as part of the process begun in 1996,” one source said. Walter is to succeed Robert Allen as CEO of the telecommunications giant in May 1998. The executive is considering cutting one of the four tiers of management beneath the vice president level and may introduce a new package of incentives to persuade some longer-serving managers to leave early, one source said. Basking Ridge, N.J.-based AT&T; declined to comment on the plans but acknowledged that a thorough review is underway. Shares lost 25 cents to close at $38.75 on the NYSE.