Making Worldcom Live up to Its Name: CEO Ebbers is expanding its reach with local and Net service

Bernard J. Ebbers, CEO of WorldCom Inc., is not the typical telecommunications pioneer. He does not use a cellular phone, e-mail or a pager to keep in touch with his staff. Instead, he spends a good part of his day walking around the company's headquarters talking to employees. In the past 12 years, Ebbers has done nearly 50 mergers and acquisitions to build WorldCom into the 4th-largest long-distance company in the US. Revenues are expected to grow 30% this year, to $7.3 billion, with earnings of $350 million. His boldest move to date is last year's $12.5-billion stock deal to buy local phone competitor MFS Communications Co.