AT&T; to Sell Customer Services Unit

AT&T; Corp. agreed to sell its customer services unit to Cincinnati Bell Inc. for $650 million as part of a continuing effort to slim down and focus on its telecommunications business. AT&T; said in October that it planned to sell its Solutions Customer Care business. As part of the deal, Cincinnati Bell’s Matrixx Marketing Inc. unit would handle customer inquiries and employee services for AT&T; Solutions for eight years. The long-distance phone giant is raising money for what analysts predict will be a major acquisition, perhaps of a local phone company. The Customer Care sale would let AT&T; cut costs by eliminating 9,000 employees. As for Matrixx, that company will see its annual sales nearly double, to about $825 million. The sale would be AT&T;’s latest under new Chairman and Chief Executive C. Michael Armstrong. Last week, AT&T; said it would sell its Universal Card unit to Citicorp for $3.5 billion. In New York Stock Exchange trading, AT&T; shares reached a 52-week high of $64 on Monday but closed at $63.94. On Tuesday, the stock gave up $2.19 to close at $61.75 amid a broader retreat on Wall Street.