XO Holdings / XOHO

About XO Holdings

13865 Sunrise Valley Dr., Herndon, Va. 20171
www.xo.com | 703-547-2000 | Founded: 1994

Industry: Telecommunications | Category: Public Companies

In the past year, XO has become one of the last standing local telephone companies challenging the giant phone providers. Last year, MCI Inc. and AT&T Corp. married much wealthier partners, leaving XO without allies to carry the competitive flag. With MCI and AT&T out of the picture, XO is now the largest competitor to the old regional Bell companies.
Billionaire financier Carl Icahn, who bought a controlling stake in XO's debt while it was in bankruptcy, proposed buying the rest of the company's conventional phone operations for $700 million, taking it private. In going private, the company would not have to make debt payments that were due to Icahn, who owns much of the company's preferred shares. Icahn's acquisition had been expected to be completed in the first half of this year, but XO and Icahn's Elk Associates called it off at the end of March, citing delays from lawsuits that challenged it as a bad deal for other XO shareholders. The litigation "creates a kind of vacuum that was not healthy for either party and these deals need to move quickly," said Chad Couser, an XO spokesman. "So both companies ... decided to terminate the agreement."
The transaction would not have included XO's fixed wireless assets, which would have remained part of a separate, publicly traded company.
XO's wireless technology is used to essentially circumvent the Bells' network, so data can be transmitted without relying on another company's wires. It is currently used in some markets in California and Florida.
XO is not profitable. Although it acquired Allegiance Telecom in 2004, in recent quarters its revenue has been dropping.
XO has been trying to increase its market share by pushing more sophisticated Internet-based phone services, a service it launched last year. The company now has 3,000 business customers for that service, and this year it will continue to focus on selling that service, the company said.

2005 Financial Data

Revenues: $1,433,622,000 | Net Income: $-146,505,000
Asssets: $1,202,725,000 | Earnings Per Share: $-0.88
Total employees: 4,400 | Local employees: 450