GNET > Bought back GNET-MCOM today > Both has $300 Mill PA investment
After selling today earlier the stock dropped just a little bit and I felt the stock was holding strong and may not drop so was able to get in back with full force. Good move I guess!
This is the last time I will ever disclose my positions as I know people don't need to know or like what anyone does (Buy/Sell/Hold/Short).
Today's news on MCOM investment by Vulcan Ventures should also help GNET in future.
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Metricom said today that MCI WorldCom and billionaire investor Paul Allen plan to invest $600 million in the company in exchange for an 87 percent stake.
Metricom, a leading provider of wide-area, portable wireless data services, said Allen's firm, Vulcan Ventures, and MCI WorldCom, the long distance phone company, will provide $300 million each to fund the launch of Metricom's Ricochet mobile data service.
Ricochet lets Internet and electronic mail users get connected without telephone modems. The system works by broadcasting signals back and forth from transceivers mounted on utility poles to small radio modems connected to subscribers' computers.
It is scheduled to be commercially available in mid-2000.
Under the deal, MCI WorldCom and Vulcan will buy 60 million new Metricom convertible preferred shares, priced at $10 per share.
After a conversion to common shares, Vulcan will hold 49 percent and MCI WorldCom 38 percent of the company. The accord needs the approval of Metricom shareholders.
Metricom will remain a publicly traded company headed by chief executive Timothy Dreisbach.
As part of the deal, MCI WorldCom signed a five-year, non-exclusive wholesale agreement valued at $350 million with Metricom for its Ricochet services.
Metricom will utilize MCI WorldCom's high-speed data and Internet network and support operations as it expands nationally.
Metricom will also try to sell Ricochet via other outlets and create a multimillion-dollar branding and marketing campaign.
Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, last week announced a $100 million minority investment in Oxygen Media, the women's online site and planned cable television network. Allen also owns Charter Communications, the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States with 5.5 million subscribers. |
