San Francisco, Nov 20: In his new role as chief executive at WorldCom, Michael Capellas said on Tuesday that his biggest challenge will be restoring the public's confidence in the bankrupt telecommunications company. "The company has got incredible assets. It's got great technology and customer support remains good," he said in a talk at a Lehman Brothers semiconductor conference.
"We have to work on the cost model and return people to believing in the company's integrity," Capellas said. "We will have to rebuild the trust of employees, customers and the world, in general."
Capellas was named last week as the new president and chairman of WorldCom, the No. 2 US long-distance telephone and data services company and one of the main backbone providers for the Internet.
Clinton, Mississippi-based WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July after revealing massive accounting problems that it says may exceed $9 billion.
The accounting scandal prompted the US Securities and Exchange Commission to file charges and investigations by congressional committees and the US Attorney's office in New York. The company is in talks to settle the SEC charges, while four former WorldCom executives have pleaded guilty to securities fraud.
Asked in a question-and-answer session to comment on reports that a WorldCom bondholder is pushing to have former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as chairman, Capellas said: "I'm actually flattered for the company that he'd be interested in being involved."
Bureau Report