al MCI later that year, it became the second largest telecommunications company in the U.S. The companies complemented each other because WorldCom had primarily serviced the business market, while consumers were MCI's core customer base. In November 1999, still hungry, MCI WorldCom (as the company was then known) attempted to swallow Sprint for $115 billion. That deal, however, was later blocked by antitrust regulators. In mid-1999, MCI WorldCom's stock was trading at an all-time high, above $60. But by mid-2000, as the rest of the stock market began to slide, the company's stock began a precipitous fall, making it harder to make any new acquisitions. In 2001, WorldCom issued a separate tracking stock for MCI in an effort to reverse the parent company's stock decline. WorldCom's efforts to boost its stock price failed. In February 2002, the stock took another big tumble after the company sharply lowered its revenue and earnings projections for its WorldCom group for fiscal 2002. Investors got another dose of VAULT CAREER LIBRARY 2005 Vault Inc. Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers MCI, Inc. bad news the next month when the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it was investigating the company's accounting practices as well as some loans it made to executives. Another worry was the company's high debt, which had reached $30 billion by April 2002. By this point, MCI WorldCom's stock was trading below $7. At the end of April, under mounting pressure, CEO Bernie Ebbers resigned and was replaced by Vice Chairman John Sidgmore, who remained at the company's helm less than a year. It was during Sidgmore's brief tenure (July 21, 2002, to be exact) that the company took the step of filing for bankruptcy. The current CEO Michael Capellas (formerly chief executive of Compaq and formerly president of Hewlett- Packard) took the reins from Sidgmore in November 2002. New name, new headquarters, same company more or less Capellas wasted no time jumping in and trying to fix the giant telecom's troubles. Immediately aft