ATLANTA – Fifty years ago today, Southern Company – the largest power generator in the United States and the world’s fourth largest independent power producer – issued its first public stock offering of 1.5 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Currently, Southern Company has 672 million shares outstanding.

“A lot has happened over the past 50 years. We’re not the same company we used to be,” said Southern Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Dahlberg. “Our initial stockholders were investing in a regional electric utility company. Today, our shareholders are investing in one of the world’s most respected global energy companies.”

Southern Company was created in 1949 through the combination of four electric utility companies owned by Commonwealth & Southern Corp., an electric utility holding company. Southern Company was first listed on the stock exchange on Sept. 30, 1949, with 12 million shares that had been transferred from the former parent company.

In 1949, Southern Company held $128 million in assets. Today, Southern Company has operations in 12 countries on five continents and more than $37 billion in assets.

The company’s net income in 1949 was $17 million, compared with $977 million in 1998 and record profits so far in 1999. Southern Company’s market capitalization – the market value of all outstanding shares – was about $160 million at year-end 1949 compared with nearly $16 billion today.

“We’ve established a solid record of results and are moving toward our goal of being the premier investment in our industry,” Dahlberg said. “We’re successfully executing our strategy, which is to aggressively expand our growth in the competitive energy supply business in North America, to sharpen our focus internationally and to keep our five utilities in the Southeast integrated while seeking both retail and wholesale growth.”

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an international energy company that operates more than 48,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity worldwide. It is the largest producer of electricity in the United States and one of the world’s largest independent power producers. Southern Company subsidiaries and their affiliates serve 12 million retail customers worldwide and millions more through the wholesale market. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric.

Through its Southern Energy Inc. subsidiary, Southern Company has operations in 12 countries on five continents and has a growing presence in North America with assets in the Northeast, the Midwest, California and Texas. Southern Company also provides energy-related marketing, trading and technical services in the United States and Europe and offers Southern LINC wireless telecommunications.