Rumors Roll Over AT&T

The blockbuster talk has been consistently wrong so far, but that hasn't been enough to shut down the AT&T (T Quote) rumor mill.

Earlier this month, Ma Bell and BellSouth (BLS Quote) were rumored to be closing in on a massive merger that ultimately foundered on price terms. Now, investors and workers at the struggling New York phone giant are bandying about a four-way deal involving BellSouth, Comcast (CMSCK Quote) and IBM (IBM Quote).

Apparently an email has been bouncing around among interested parties, predicting that Wednesday will bring sweeping job cuts, accompanied by a business-by-business dismantling of AT&T.

According to the three-point missive, and a report of the rumor in the The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., cable giant Comcast will take AT&T's consumer phone business, Atlanta local phone shop BellSouth will get the business services unit, and IBM will take over AT&T's research labs. ...