l telephone company that more closely resembles the company we know today. Over the ensuing decades, the company that would become ALLTEL set out on a bold course of acquisitions, buying up and merging with wireless companies in rural and small urban areas. As of early 2004, ALLTEL stands as the sixth largest U.S. wireless operator, with approximately 12 million customers. It's interesting to note that the company has stayed true to its roots as a family-run company. Hugh Wilbourn, one of the company's founders, is Joe Ford's father-in- law. (Ford was named CEO in 1987, having been the company's COO since 1983.) In July 2002, Joe's son, Scott Ford, who joined the company in 1996, was named president and CEO as part of a succession plan in which Joe Ford remained chairman of the board. From the company's modest beginnings, it currently employs about 20,000 people across the United States. ALLTEL's acquisitive nature The company estimates that it's conducted about 250 acquisitions over the past 50 years, but it's in the last six years that the spectacular deals that have made the company what it is today have taken place. Things kind of kicked off with Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. LIBRARY Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers ALLTEL Corporation ALLTEL's July 1998 acquisition of 360 Communications in a $6 billion merger, which increased ALLTEL's wireless customer base from 941,000 to about 3.4 million in one fell swoop. The same month, ALLTEL acquired the assets of Cellular Plus, a wireless provider in Georgia. Just a few months later, in December 1998, ALLTEL again merged with another communications company - this time it was Aliant Communications - in a $2 billion deal. Less than a year later, in October 1999, ALLTEL completed a $600 million merger with Liberty Cellular. In the company's first blockbuster deal of the new millennium, in March 2002, ALLTEL finally completed its pur