ay since we had said good-bye, he had gone from imagining the company's new structure to living in it. The October board meeting was no longer a progress report in his mind; it was the deadline for getting approval for whatever we were going to do, and we would then announce it immediately. Armstrong said it was time to tackle "the really tough stuff": how to explain the company's breakup to employees, custom- ers, shareowners, regulators, the media, and anyone else who had a penchant for backseat driving. There was also another critical audience that was now even more important than the sell-side analysts-the three debt-rating agencies: Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and, to a lesser extent, Fitch. The big question was when to brief them on the company's plan SO that they could issue credit ratings that reflected what we were learning about the industry and the business, as well as how we intended to cope with it. Noski didn't want to get ahead of the board, although both he It's Okay to Change Your Mind and Armstrong had been keeping the rating agencies apprised of new developments as they occurred. In the end, we decided to brief the rating agencies the morning after the full board meeting. The announcement itself, which would come on Wednesday, Octo- ber 25, would have three major elements. The company would be bro- ken into four investment vehicles-wireless, cable, business, and consumer-that would ultimately be spun off to current shareowners. AT&T shareowners would also have an opportunity, but no obligation, to exchange their shares of AT&T for shares of AT&T Wireless with an equivalent value. For the first time in 473 consecutive quarters, the company would lower its dividend beginning in the fourth quarter of 2000, although the size of the reduction would not be announced until discussions with the rating agencies had been completed. The size of the dividend reduction was the last cushion the company had if the rating agencies were still uncomfortable. Restructuring AT&T's restructuring was one of the bigg