In the year of its centenary, and exactly 37 years since June 12, 1987, when Telefónica became the first Spanish company to list on Wall Street, the Spanish telecommunications giant returned to the market yesterday in the New Yorker to make the classic “ring the bell” at the end of a stock market session.
This bell was the culmination of the celebration in New York of the anniversary of Telefónica, whose CEO, José María Álvarez-Baletti, was honored on the eve with the Gold Medal of the Americas Society, an organization created by David Rockefeller in 1965 dedicated to education, debate and dialogue about the Americas.
At the spring ceremony held at Cipriani, one of the classic venues in the Financial District, Álvarez Balleti was presented as a “passionate agent of change” by Andrés Gloski, President of the Americas Society, and as “the essence of the award that recognizes individuals who have created a real and lasting impact in… Their countries and the hemisphere” by Susan Segal, CEO. When the Spaniard took the stage, he left a speech in which he used the anniversary to “look back and gain perspective” and defend 100 years of the company, which he described as “more than just a company, a form of service to the community” and in which he wanted to pay tribute to the half a million workers who have passed through its ranks. Throughout this century.
“A new social contract”
Alvarez-Baletti’s intervention, which had a strong humanitarian element, also looked to the present and the future. He stated that what flows through his networks “is not voice, gigabytes, or megabytes; it is people’s lives and their need to communicate.” After remembering that we are living “the most profound technological revolution in human history,” he called for “managing this transformation responsibly.” “It’s time for sociology, philosophy, anthropology, economics and politics, with a capital letter. It’s time for a new social contract.”
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