what led to the at t divestiture in 1982 
one of the most famous cases of court ordered divestiture involves the breakup of the old at t in 1982 the u s government determined at t controlled too large a portion of the nation s telephone service and brought antitrust charges against the company in 1974 the divestiture created seven different companies including one retaining the name at t as well as new equipment manufacturers the bottom linea divestiture happens when a company decides to sell or spin off part of its business into a new entity companies may divest in order to focus on a core competency raise cash or reduce exposure to an underperforming business segment they may also divest due to regulatory pressure if the combined entity has too large of a market share 