est business news stories of 2000. Between October 23 and November 9, we tracked and analyzed 1,006 articles and news broadcasts about the company's decision "to divide itself into four parts." Ironically, more than half of everything that was written about the company's restructuring during this period actually appeared before we made the announcement. An independent research firm, Delahaye Medialink, characterized 52 percent of the coverage as "negative," with 38 percent "neutral" and IO percent "pos- itive." Its analysis, however, showed that the neutral tone of the cover- age was skewed by brief and factual television reports when the news first broke. Discounting television, fully 69 percent of the coverage had a negative tone. Looking back, it was naive to have expected other- wise. Early in the planning for the announcement-before I even knew its major elements-I had consulted some of the best minds in the public relations field. Their prognosis was consistent: The story of Armstrong's "failure" would be our biggest issue. Our only credible alternative was to acknowledge the shift in strategy and quickly change the subject. By early October, I had developed a storyline around three key points: Tough Calls Storyline: Keeping Promises 1. We laid out the right strategy in 1998 and made good prog- ress against it. Competitive costs. Industry-leading margins. Doubled rev- enue growth in 1998 and 1999. Less dependence on voice-50% of revenue in 2000, down from 79% in 1997. Growth businesses of $40 + billion, growing 11%. Built the largest broadband services footprint in the United States and upgraded network to offer five new categories of service-digital video, telephony, high-speed data, small business, and interactive TV. Capped circuit-switched network and invested $40 billion to accelerate deployment of high-speed packet networks and fiber rings to meet businesses' data needs. Built $4 billion outsourcing and network management business from nearly standing start. Transformed a patchwork of local analog cel