Cheek-to-cheek
It has been generally accepted in Silicon Valley that Excite@Home (ATHM), the high-speed Internet access company owned mostly by AT&T (T), is for sale.
As the stock options of many early employees vest -- this is the four-year mark -- the Redwood City, Calif.-based company has been hemorrhaging people. Yesterday, chairman Tom Jermoluk joined the venture capital firm that funded @Home and Excite, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
But Jermoluk's departure is actually a signal that AT&T might be holding on a bit tighter.
Earlier this year, the phone giant strengthened its position on the company's board of directors, offering to buy the voting stock of two cable partners, Cox Communications (COX) and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)
But AT&T has strengthened its position within the company as well, naming Byron Smith executive vice president of consumer broadband and Mark O'Leary executive vice president of Excite@Home business solutions. You probably could have guessed by the wordy titles that both of these guys are AT&T alums.
"I think they're understanding that content isn't just looking at pictures," said one person who knows Excite@Home well. "Content can be voice, right?"
He speculated that the phone giant would pull the Internet company even tighter by promoting current CEO George Bell to chairman and giving Smith his job. That's essentially what happened with Jermoluk.
Bell is said to spend little time on the West Coast. His wife, Carrie Minot -- sister of the novelist Susan Minot -- made no secret of her dislike of California while the family lived here and moved back to the East Coast last year.
Excite@Home spokeswoman Melissa Walia cautioned against reading too much into Smith and O'Leary's new posit. Bell "spends a vast amount of time in Redwood City," she said.
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