Editing Prodigy (online service) (section)

==A public company==
In 1996, Prodigy was acquired by the former founders of Boston Technology and their new firm International Wireless, with Mexican businessman [[Carlos Slim Helú]], a principal owner of [[Telmex]], as a minority investor. IBM and Sears sold their interests to the group for $200 million. It was estimated that IBM and Sears had invested more than $1 billion in the service since its founding.<ref>Lewis, Peter H. [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/08/business/sears-ibm-near-a-deal-to-sell-prodigy.html "Sears, I.B.M. Near a Deal To Sell Prodigy"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 8, 1996. Accessed November 13, 2007. "A person familiar with the agreement said I.B.M. and Sears had agreed to accept as little as $100 million for Prodigy, in effect writing off more than $1 billion they had invested in the online venture during the last decade."</ref>

Prodigy continued to operate as it had previously, while Telmex provided Internet access under the Prodigy brand in Mexico and other parts of [[Latin America]], with some services provided by Prodigy Communications in the US.

Prodigy went public in 1999, trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol PRGY.<ref>[https://www.google.com/finance/?cid=663014 PRGY]. [[Google Finance]].</ref> Later that year, Prodigy entered a strategic partnership with [[SBC Communications]] by which Prodigy would provide Internet services and SBC would provide exclusive sales opportunities and network, particularly [[digital subscriber line|DSL]], facilities. The strategic partnership also gave SBC a 43% ownership interest in Prodigy.<ref>{{cite press release |title=SBC and Prodigy Announce Alliance |publisher=[[AT&T Inc.]]|date=November 22, 1999 |url=http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=7168&mapcode=corporate |access-date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref>

On November 6, 2001, SBC purchased 100% interest in Prodigy and brought it private. On November 14, 2001, SBC and [[Yahoo!]] announced the strategic alliance to create the cobranded [[AT&T Yahoo!|SBC Yahoo!]]. Sometime after that, SBC ceased offering new Prodigy accounts, and customers were encouraged to migrate to the SBC Yahoo! product line while maintaining their existing Prodigy email addresses.