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1) Top Stories
- AT&T 1998: Plans Will Include Strategic Acquisitions,
Analysts Speculate
- Microsoft Acquires Internet E-Mail Provider Hotmail
- Vision Software To Intro New Version Of VB Generator
- General Signal Networks To Offer PCI Board For High-
Speed Data Transfer
2) Tech Stocks: 1997's winners won big: Dell Computer
revolutionized the manufacturing and distribution of PCs
and servers; America Online continued its dominance as a
simple and effective way to ride the Internet; the year
2000 solutions market had its leaders in Compuware and
Keane; and SAP was a software powerhouse, dictating
business strategies for companies such as Oracle, Baan, and
PeopleSoft.
3) Calendar: "Every sin is the result of a collaboration,"
says a character in Stephen Crane's piercing short story,
"The Blue Hotel." That ought to lend a cautionary note to
several upcoming conferences on intranet strategies and
technology. But probably won't.
TOP STORIES
__AT&T 1998: Plans Will Include Acquistions, Analysts Say__
New AT&T chairman and CEO C. Michael Armstrong will
disclose this month the company's strategic plans for the
new year, according to an AT&T spokesperson. Top on most
AT&T watchers' lists: What is Armstrong going to do with
all that cash the company has accumulated?
AT&T recently announced sales of its Universal Card to
Citicorp for $4 billion, its Solutions Customer Care unit
to Cincinnati Bell Inc. for about $625 million, and its
equity stake in DirecTV back to Hughes Electronics Corp.
for $161.8 million. Also, AT&T is rumored to be considering
selling its paging business, which could fetch about $240
million.
AT&T will say only that the company is using the money for
"general business purposes." But analysts' favorite
speculation involves acquisitions. "They are trying to
create a war chest to remodel themselves to be an
integrated company, more like a WorldCom," says Berge
Ayvazian, a VP of the Yankee Group Inc. in Boston.
Analysts say Teleport Communications Inc., in Staten
Island, N.Y., is an obvious local-services acquisition
target for AT&T. Teleport is controlled by cable-TV
companies Tele-Communications Inc., Comcast Corp., and Cox
Enterprises Inc., and could cost AT&T more than $10
billion, based on Teleport's recent high stock price and
its pending acquisition of local and long distance services
company ACC Corp.
For wireless service, analysts say AT&T would benefit from
New York local carrier WinStar Communications, which has
licenses to offer fixed wireless services in 49 of the
nation's top 50 metropolitan areas, with a potential 180
million customers. For Internet services, AT&T recently
completed its own IP backbone, but the carrier still may be
looking at @Home, an Internet company owned by several
cable-TV companies, for local connections to the Internet.
After a tumultuous 1997, observers say AT&T needs to make
some dramatic moves. "They've got to retool, and the only
way to do that quickly is through strategic acquisitions,"
says the Yankee Group's Ayvazian. Teleport, WinStar, and
@Home had no comment on possible deals. --Mary E. Thyfault
ac |
