AILING AT&T; HIRES A PRINTER

R.R. DONNELLEY'S WALTER IS HEIR APPARENT, AS CEO ALLEN PLANS AN EARLY EXIT

"John who?" They aren't asking that question at AT&T;'s main office in Basking Ridge, N.J., anymore, but they are just about everywhere else. In a shocker, AT&T;, the nation's 10th largest company, with estimated 1996 revenues of $51 billion to $52 billion, dialed long distance--to a Midwest commercial printer, of all places--to find John Walter, its new president and heir apparent to CEO Robert Allen, who will retire in 1998, two years early. "When one of the world's largest companies loses its president and can't find anyone inside, what's going on?" asks Sprint CEO William Esrey.

Wall Street wonders too. AT&T...;

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