Technology >> CEO Interviews >> May 10, 1999
SAM GINN, is Chairman of the Board and CEO, AirTouch Communications,
Inc. With a career in telecommunications that spans more than three
decades, Mr. Ginn has seen it all. From his first day on the job at
AT&T, when he donned a set of climbers and conquered a telephone pole,
Ginn's steady ascent has led him to the top post at the largest
multinational wireless company in the world: AirTouch Communications.
Surprising many industry observers, Ginn resigned in 1994 after six
years as Chairman and CEO of Pacific Telesis Group to run AirTouch, a
smaller enterprise focused on enriching people's lives around the world
through wireless communications. But for Ginn, it was an opportunity to
come full circle and lead the wireless businesses he helped create in
1984 after the AT&T divestiture. Today, The New York Times notes, 'Ginn
can afford not to dwell on the past. Overseas, where it is doubling its
number of subscribers every year, AirTouch has become a formidable
power.' Forbes recently wrote about the cellular industry: 'The fast
growth shows no signs of abating and AirTouch Communicationshas got the
pole position. Sam Ginn can best be described as a global wireless
pioneer. As the first employee and group president of the PacTel
Companies (Pacific Telesis group's diversified businesses), he charted
the team that launched cellular service in Los Angeles for the 1984
Olympics. Struck by the demand for communicating while on the move, Ginn
told the Pacific Telesis Board of Directors that he thought wireless
would be an Alexander Graham Bell opportunity. How right he was. Ginn
was quick to buy and trade U.S. cellular properties, assembling a
portfolio of lucrative licenses for less than $20 per person, that are
worth far more today. He was first to pursue license opportunities
abroad, long before many other wireless carriers took notice. Ginn
clearly recognized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities unleased by the
deregulation and privatization trends sweeping the globe. Beginning in
1989, he forged a partnership strategy that won AirTouch an enviable
set global assets which now spans 12 countries including the United
States. But Ginn's global expansion strategy took a toll on Telesis.
Seeing no way to reconcile this situation, in 1992 Ginn led the
investigation that ultimately fueled one of the boldest moves in his
career, the proposal to take apart a very successful corporation to
enable both halves to thrive independently. Two years later the spin
was approved. When Ginn took the helm at AirTouch in December 1993, he
helped raise more than $1.5 billion in the third largest initial public
offering in U.S. history, just four months before the April 1, 1994
spin-off that permanently separated the wireless businesses from Pacific
Telesis. Profile
to set the stage for our readers.
Mr. Ginn: We're the world's largest wireless phone company. Our ventures
in 13
