I was reading an old brochure from AT&T: "A Guide

I was reading an old brochure from AT&T: "A Guide For Shareowners.....1-for-5 Reverse Stock Split Information"

Stock ownered in "Street Name", aka electronic form in a brokerage account, will automatically be converted to the New Stock Ticker Symbol and will appear in your brokerage account without any effort on your part.

Stock owned in Certificate form - your certificate will have to be turned in to be converted, but if you lost your certificate you can pay a service fee to get the conversion completed.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: This reverse stock split occurred in 2002, and AT&T stated at that time, "AT&T is leading the industry in the movement to create a fully electronic stock environment."

15 years later, I'm guessing that turned in certificates will automatically be turned into electronic form and deposited into the brokerage account of your choice.

It just makes the most sense in this 21st century economy.

As for "fractions" of shares, AT&T paid for the fraction of those shares by sending a small check to their customers holding certificates or depositing a small amount of cash into the brokerage accounts of those holding the stock in electronic form.........................