I think paragraph six touches on what may be Metricom's place in Allen's strategy. However, no one from his camp has ever stated that the MCOM investment has been made for anything other than its stand-alone capacity....have they???
If this is indeed the case, MCOM may be quite risky in that its fate depends on Allen's ability to amass a large, national cable network over which to use Metricom's internet access devices. Is this a realistic goal? Aren't these properties expensive?
Anyway, I'm not sure how I even see how wireless internet access would tie into cable network directly. Doesn't the company still face the (seemingly) daunting task of rolling out (on telephone poles???)?
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Paul Allen buying Marcus Cable
DALLAS, April 6 (Reuters) - Computer billionaire Paul Allen is buying Dallas-based Marcus Cable Co., the nation's largest closely held cable television company, for about $2.775 billion, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday.
Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft Corp (MSFT - news), was to announce the deal at a news conference in Dallas at 1 p.m. CDT (1400 EDT). The source said the $2.775 billion price tag included the assumption of some debt but did not give further details.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday that Allen was buying Marcus Cable for about $2 billion plus the assumption of $1 billion in debt.
Representatives for Allen said it was his largest-ever acquisition outside of Microsoft.
''Investor Paul G. Allen will announce a significant investment and acquisition in the cable industry,'' they said. ''This represents Allen's largest non-Microsoft investment to date.''
The Wall Street Journal said Allen eventually hoped to knit together enough smaller cable systems to let him build a big platform for bringing new services, such as Internet access, over cable-TV lines.
Marcus Cable is the country's ninth largest cable operator. It has 1.1 million customers in 18 states with its principal markets in Wisconsin, Southern California, Birmingham, Ala., Indiana, Tennessee and Fort Worth, Texas.
Company executives said early last month they were putting it up for sale and hoped to get $3 billion or more.
Goldman Sachs & Co owns 36 percent of the company, chief executive office Jeff Marcus and his management team own 14 percent and the rest is owned by five investment companies, including Dallas-based Hicks, Muse Tate & Furst, which has a 19 percent stake. |
