AT&T and Microsoft to support Obama’s inaugural - CNC

Northern, WI 1/12/2013 (avauncer) - The release of contributors list for President Barack Obama’s inaugural committee yesterday was a bit of a shock as it revealed AT&T (NYSE:T) as the topline donor for the President’s inaugural program; the company had backed republican candidate Romney during the presidential elections. Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) are the other two top corporate contributors featured in this list along with AT&T. The dollar value of contributions was not disclosed.

Obama would officially be taking oath in a private ceremony on 20th January however the speech would be delivered on 21st.  The money donated was not disclosed as the list doesn’t conceal it, however committee’s spokesman Addie Whisenant stated that the entire list of donors and money donated would be made public within 90 days of the event. She also stated in an e-mail that the committee would keep its promise of transparency towards citizens of America and will try to ensure everything to achieve that.

AT&T (NYSE:T), a Republic Party supporter, is rumored to fuel $5,000 for Romney’s presidential campaign in September earlier this year. AT&T (NYSE:T) also contributed $31,000 for the Republican National Committee in February. This was AT&T’s (NYSE: T) Chairperson Stephenson’s largest donation to any political campaign since past twenty years.

AT&T (NYSE:T) is the largest phone company in the US. It’s merger with T-Mobile failed to pass through the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Both regulators  opposed the amalgamation plan presented in December 2011. The regulatory refusal to approve the deal caused AT&T (NYSE:T) a loss of over $4 billion.

The shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) were down by  0.29% to close at $34.27.

The shares of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) were up by 1.40% to close at $26.83.

The shares of Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) were down by 0.57%  to close at $41.65.