[deltarholamda]

Worldcom had a business model that was ahead of its time. Show growth, raise stock price, use stock to buy companies, grow, rinse and repeat.

It worked great until regulators disallowed the Sprint purchase because it would have put too much of the long-distance market in one company. (And as we all know, we stress a lot about choosing our long-distance carrier these days.)

Then all of the somewhat shady side-deals became concerning, as WCOM was no longer growing like it was. Then people started looking more closely at the financials. Then it all went kerflooey.

It was ahead of its time because it's not that different from tech companies today, only replace business growth with user growth. Profits? Ha ha ha, don't be silly.

[StressedDev]

Worldcom was a fraud. I believe they were caught inflating their earnings (i.e. saying they made more money than they really did). This was not a business model “ahead of its time”. It’s a crime.