ning how Malone arranged to give some of his TCI shares $170 million more value than other shareowners. "Pretty tacky," wrote Sloan. "I'm not saying any of this is illegal I'm just saying it's not right." Allan Sloan, "John Malone's $170 Million Prize," Washington Post, June 30, 1998. 5. While the delay in announcing the size of the dividend cut was probably necessary, it reaffirmed a basic lesson: When you have bad news, get it all out at once. By announcing our intention to cut the dividend in October, but delaying the announcement of its actual size, 83 percent, until December, the board guaranteed that there would be two separate stories. If it had all been an- nounced together-along with the larger restructuring story-the dividend cut would have been an interesting sidebar instead of another round of stories focusing on the depth of AT&T's failures. 6. From conversation with the author, April 18, 2004. 7. Rebecca Blumenstein and Peter Grant, "Former Chief Tries to Redeem the Calls He Made at AT&T," Wall Street Journal, May 26, 2004. 8. Schrage, "Daniel Kahneman: The Thought Leader Interview." Seth Schisel, "AT&T in Pullback Will Break Itself Into 4 Busi- nesses," New York Times, October 26, 2000; Allan Sloan, "AT&T's Magic Act," Newsweek, November 6, 2000. The ubiquitous Ken McGee did interviews on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg television and was quoted in many national newspapers. C. Michael Armstrong, "Adapting to Change," speech to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, November I, 2000. II. Howard Anderson, "The Last Telecom Standing," Wall Street Jour- nal, July 23, 2002. Chapter 14 I. In one famous case, McGraw-Hill fended off a takeover attempt by American Express by suggesting that Business Week's editorial independence would be compromised were the publishing giant to become part of the financial services company. It was a risky gambit, but it worked. American Express walked away from the deal. 2. Brian Roberts told Noski that he couldn't go lower because he Notes 285 wanted to retain the flexibility to 