News items:
interactive.wsj.com
Tuesday, July 28, 1998
MICROSOFT FIRED BACK in its first formal response to federal and state antitrust suits, promising a vigorous defense. It also brought a counterclaim against the state attorneys general.
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Bell Atlantic and GTE confirmed plans to merge in a $52.55 billion stock swap. But GTE shareholders already are balking at the transaction, which prices their company below the recent trading level of GTE shares. Both telecom companies' stocks declined.
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Computer Sciences posted net income slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations as revenue jumped 18% amid growth in the computer-services company's financial and health-care sales.
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Cisco Systems agreed to acquire Summa Four, a maker of digital switching systems, for about $116 million in stock.
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Securities regulators established a new two-person office to focus on stock fraud perpetrated through the Internet.
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Network Associates said it will buy Cybermedia in a stock deal valued at about $130 million. The offer represents a premium of more than 25% over Cybermedia's closing stock price Monday.
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Compaq acquired the rights to the domain name altavista.com for a reported $3.35 million, an amount that's believed to be the biggest payment ever made for an Internet address.
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Ameritech.net delayed e-mail from America Online last week to prevent redirected junk e-mail from overwhelming its system.
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A trio of firms made moves to further the spread of on-line commerce: IBM and its Lotus unit said they will donate security-software source code to the Net community, while Netscape and VeriSign agreed to tie together Netscape's software and VeriSign services for managing digital certificates.
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Jan Baan will step down as chairman of Baan, aiming to "clarify" the separation between the Dutch software company and a company controlled by Mr. Baan and his brother.
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IBM announced that a new generation of mainframes, set to ship in August, is about 15% more powerful than it was billed to be in May, a move that is sure to pressure Big Blue's rivals.
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Canada's Newbridge unveiled an overhaul of its corporate structure, realigning its businesses into three divisions in order to "vigorously" defend its networking markets.
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The alliance of big-name phone carriers AT&T and British Telecommunications seeks to offer multinational customers globe-girdling networks. However, it will face stiff competition from newcomers to the telecom business and even computer companies.
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The European Commission is likely to focus its investigation of the planned AT&T-BT venture on the strength the alliance will have in the trans-Atlantic phone market and in the U.K., said people familiar with the linkup.
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Lucent Technologies said it acquired network-software provider MassMedia and set plans to invest up to $25 million in wireless-communications service provider Advanced Radio.
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ICG Communications reported a wider net loss for its latest period, though the company's revenue and cash flow improved.
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Intel announced price cuts of up to 31% on desktop personal-computer chips, in a continued effort to adjust to competition in the semiconductor industry and the rising popularity of budget PCs.
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A federal appeals court has thrown out a $293,000 jury verdict against Digital Equipment in a repetitive stress injury case. The verdict was the last one still standing from a 1996 case.
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PSINet plans to offer telephone calls using its Internet arteries, in an effort to expand beyond its data-network services.
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Telefonos de Mexico said Monday it would spend $49 million to acquire a minority stake in Prodigy Services and get a foothold in the U.S. Internet-services market.
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U S West reported a 21% decline in profit for the second quarter, but the Baby Bell's results generally were in line with analysts' expectations.
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Technology Earnings Roundup: General Instrument tops analysts' estimates ... Lam Research reports an operating loss ... Lernout & Hauspie misses estimates.
Aspen Technology
Plunges on Warning
Investors hammered shares of Aspen Tech after the software company warned of weak quarterly profit. Some analysts called the sharp sell-off an overreaction.
Cyberspace Classics
To Take to the Beach
Summer's here, techies -- time to trade in the keyboard for a surfboard. But here's a pair of cyberspace classics to read (or re-read) while you're baking in the sun.
Acer Shifts Focus
To Logic Chips
Stan Shih, chairman of Taiwan's Acer Group, is shifting the company away from memory chips toward a different kind of semiconductor -- the logic chip.
Senate panel votes to cut freeze on Net taxes to two years ... BackWeb gets $20 million placement ... Netscape launches personal page ... FlowWise gets new financing ... "Glitch" shuts down Barclays's cash machines ... Trident Micro adopts rights plan ... RCN completes acquisition of JavaNet ... Harcourt to acquire Gartner training business ... Computer Network Technology adopts rights plan ... Pegasus buys satellite providers. |
