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Excite@Home: AT&T squashed Yahoo deal, cops arrest wrong guy
Sources close to Yahoo have informed me that earlier this year the company put a deal on the table to acquire Excite@Home. Not surprisingly, the deal was quashed by AT&T, which holds a 23 percent stake in Excite@Home and at the time, controlled the company's board of directors. If the information proves accurate, it could be a major blow for AT&T and its bid to acquire the broadband assets of Excite@Home. It could also open the company up to more scrutiny regarding its dealings with Excite@Home.
These sources have told me that once the original deal was killed, Yahoo countered with an offer to acquire the Excite.com portal. AT&T rejected that deal also. Sources I spoke to close to Excite@Home said there were talks with Yahoo this year, but they unsure whether an actual offer was made. These sources however said if Yahoo did make a play for the portal and it wasn't accepted, it is further evidence that AT&T was deliberately steering Excite@Home into bankruptcy in an effort to acquire its broadband network and 3.6 million subscribers.
We know that two deals for Excite@Home's MatchLogic subsidiary were killed and that company was dragged into the gutter by its parents and all its employees fired. AT&T has come under attack from shareholders and bondholders as Excite@Home worms its way through what is amounting to a preposterous Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
The bankruptcy judge last week said that AT&T must provide internal information and make its executives, including CEO Michael Armstrong, available for questioning with regards to the valuation process for the company's $307 million bid to acquire Excite@Home's broadband assets. I suggest the judge and creditors look into what deals were killed by the company's board of directors. Some questions have also recently arisen as to certain current or former Excite@Home Board of Directors members ties to competitor AOL.
On another Excite@Home note, last week I relayed a story that appeared in a Palo Alto, CA newspaper, but not online, about an Excite@Home employee being arrested for stealing upwards of $1 million worth of equipment and selling it on eBay. An anonymous tipster tells me that the Redwood City Police burst into this gentleman's home with guns drawn and tore his place apart. Excite@Home had provided the cops with the man's name and address.
One problem. I've been told the cops got the wrong guy. That the man has been suspended without pay, there was no evidence he had stolen any equipment and that no charges have been filed against him. Apparently this guy has been sitting at home for two weeks or so branded a criminal and not knowing the status of his job while the executives at Excite@Home try to figure out how to clean up another mess. Another big screw up on the part of a company that may very well go down as one of the biggest frauds of the new economy.
So sick of writing about this company, but there is still more. Webshots.com, a subsidiary of Excite@Home that allows visitors to share photos online, posted a notice on its site saying, "The current plan calls for Webshots to become an independent company and continue operation. How long this will take, we’re not exactly sure."
The notice was intended for members of Webshots' affiliate program, who like former employees of Excite@Home, are not getting some of the money owed them because of the company's bankruptcy. |
