1983 - Businessmen Murray Waldron and William Rector sketch out a plan to create a discount long distance provider called LDDS (Long-Distance Discount Service).

1985 - Early investor Bernard Ebbers becomes chief executive officer of LDDS.

1989 - LDDS becomes public through the acquisition of Advantage Companies Inc.

1992 - LDDS merges in an all-stock deal with discount long distance service provider Advanced Telecommunications Corp.

1993 - LDDS acquires long distance providers Resurgens Communications Group Inc and Metromedia Communications Corp. in a three-way stock and cash transaction that creates the fourth-largest long-distance network in the United States.

1994 - LDDS acquires domestic and international communications network IDB Communications Group Inc. in an all-stock deal.

1995 - LDDS acquires voice and data transmission company Williams Telecommunications Group Inc. (WilTel) for $2.5 billion cash and changes its name to WorldCom Inc.

1996 - WorldCom merges with MFS Communications Company Inc. (MFS), which owned local network access facilities via digital fiber optic cable networks in and around major U.S. and European cities, and UUNet Technologies Inc., an Internet access provider for businesses.

1998 - WorldCom completes three mergers: with MCI Communications Corp. ($40 billion) -- the largest in history at that time -- Brooks Fiber Properties Inc. ($1.2 billion) and CompuServe Corp ($1.3 billion).

1999 - WorldCom and Sprint Corp. agree to merge.

2000 - U.S. and European regulators block the proposed merger with Sprint; WorldCom and Sprint terminate their merger agreement.

2001 - WorldCom merges with Intermedia Communications Inc., a provider of data and Internet services to businesses.

2002

March 11, 2002 - WorldCom receives a request for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to accounting procedures and loans to officers.

April 3, 2002 - WorldCom says it is cutting 3,700 jobs in the U.S. or 6 percent of WorldCom group's staff, 4 percent of WorldCom's overall work force.

April 22, 2002 - Standard & Poor's cuts WorldCom's long-term and short-term corporate credit ratings.

April 23, 2002 - Moody's Investors Service cuts WorldCom's long-term ratings. Fitch cuts the company's ratings, saying it expects WorldCom's revenue to deteriorate during 2002, with prospects for recovery in 2003 uncertain.

April 30, 2002 - WorldCom Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers resigns amid slumping share prices and a SEC probe of the company's support of his personal loans. Vice Chairman John Sidgmore takes reins of company.

May 9, 2002 - Moody's cuts WorldCom's long term debt ratings to junk status, citing the company's deteriorating operating performance, debt and expectations for further weakness.

May 10, 2002 - Standard & Poor's cuts WorldCom's credit rating to junk status.

May 13, 2002 - Standard & Poor's removes WorldCom from its S&P 500 Index.

May 15, 2002 - WorldCom says it would draw down a $2.65 billion bank credit line as it negotiates for a new $5 billion funding pact with its lenders.

May 21, 2002 - WorldCom says it will scrap dividend payments and eliminate its two tracking stocks, one that reflects its main Internet and data business and a second that reflects its residential long-distance telephone business.

May 23, 2002 - WorldCom secures $1.5 billion in new funding to replace a larger, $2 billion credit line.

June 5, 2002 - WorldCom says it will exit the wireless resale business and will cut jobs to reduce expenses and pare massive debts.

June 25, 2002 - WorldCom fires its chief financial officer after uncovering improper accounting of $3.8 billion in expenses that covered up a net loss for 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. The company also says it will cut 17,000 jobs, more than 20 percent of its workforce.

June 26, 2002 - Nasdaq market halts trading in WorldCom's two tracking stocks, WorldCom Group and MCI Group . Shares of WorldCom touched as low as 9 cents before the halt. President Bush calls for full investigation of the matter.