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EXHIBIT 12.1
WORLDCOM, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
COMPUTATION OF RATIO OF EARNINGS TO COMBINED FIXED CHARGES
AND PREFERENCE DIVIDENDS
(in millions)
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
For the
nine months
ended
Year ended December 31, September 30,
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1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
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<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Earnings:
Pretax income (loss)
from continuing
operations............. $ 376 $ (2,272) $ 578 $ (1,590) $ 7,164 $ 6,355
Fixed charges, net of
capitalized interest... 285 315 500 774 1,098 822
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Earnings.............. $ 661 $ (1,957) $ 1,078 $ (816) $ 8,262 $ 7,177
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Fixed Charges:
Interest cost........... $ 270 $ 308 $ 538 $ 928 $ 1,287 $ 1,064
Amortization of
financing costs........ 4 4 2 12 18 18
Interest factor of rent
expense................ 16 19 47 78 132 123
Preference dividends.... 67 20 63 67 115 77
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Fixed charges......... $ 357 $ 351 $ 650 $ 1,085 $ 1,552 $ 1,282
======= ======== ======= ======== ======= =======
Deficiency of earnings
to fixed charges....... $ -- $ (2,308) $ -- $ (1,901) $ -- $ --
Ratio of earnings to
fixed charges (1)...... 1.85:1 -- 1.66:1 -- 5.32:1 5.60:1
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</TABLE>
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(1) For the purpose of computing the ratio of earnings to combined fixed
charges and preference dividends, earnings consist of pre-tax income (loss)
from continuing operations, excluding minority interests in gains/losses of
consolidated subsidiaries, and fixed charges consist of pre-tax interest
(including capitalized interest) on all indebtedness, amortization of debt
discount and expense, that portion of rental expense that WorldCom believes
to be representative of interest, and distributions on subsidiary trust and
other mandatorily redeemable preferred securities and preferred dividends,
both of which have been grossed up to a pre-tax basis utilizing WorldCom's
effective tax rate.
