[3] Mergers and de-mergers are reshaping the world's telecommunications industry. Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corp., Tokyo, was the world's largest telecommunications company in 1996, the last year for that status; in 1997 it is scheduled to be broken into three entities. The United States's AT&T Corp., New York City, is completing its own de-merger, also into three companies. Deutsche Telekom AG, Bonn, Germany, has gone private and last year floated the world's largest stock offering ever. British Telecommunications Plc., London, and MCI Communications Corp., Washington, D.C., are merging to create the world's fourth largest telecom entity, Concert Plc. France Télécom, fifth largest, has also privatized.