Joe, If there is a buyout consider this:
The Phantoms' WUCEH TRADER (tm)
October 31, 1996
For months now, I have been talking in terms of Frank Peters being a visionary within the industry, and why I have stuck by this investment for over a year without being deterred by all the skeptics. When you read the following article, consider the alliance with Worldcomm LDDS/Gridnet/UUnet, and think in terms of a worldwide telecommunications/Internet company. Also consider who is geared for corporate services, and has the best infrastructure in existence today.
FNET is a natural to get bought out, it's like parental planning, establishing the marriage before the birth.
(COMTEX) Why AT&T Should Buy America Online
Why AT&T Should Buy America Online
WASHINGTON, DC (Wash Tech, Oct. 24, 1996) -- The best thing that could
happen to America Online is for it to become AT&T's America Online.
In the next couple of years _ it is happening rapidly already _
Internet service providers and their online services counterparts will
die or be bought. As smart as these companies' presidents are, as much
stock as they move, in the end the consumer and business customer will
want a big, reliable company that will offer a fixed-rate price and one
bill.
To put it bluntly, Internet service providers have been doing the
research for telcos and will make a chunk of change for their effort and
invaluable knowledge. As the two related industries inevitably merge, an
AT&T buy of Dulles, Va.-based AOL could be the strongest end result.
It's not that Internet will get less exciting. In fact, as computer
companies, banks and content providers determine how to do electronic
commerce, the information age will really take off. It's just that
Internet access will become less exciting because companies will be
concentrating on the real business.
UUnet Technologies Inc., Fairfax, Va., was the first of the providers
to make all the right moves. It was recently bought by MFS
Communications, Omaha, Neb., which in turn was purchased by Jackson,
Miss.-based World Com Inc., the fourth-largest long distance phone
company.
PSINet, Herndon, Va., last we heard, was still being shopped around.
Other smaller companies such as Beltsville, Md.-based Digex, which just
started trading publicly last week, and Erol's, Springfield, Va., which
is said to be going public soon, will likely be bought by telcos. Online
service providers such as CompuServe and Prodigy, already fading away,
will at this point be lucky to find good suitors.
AOL, on the other hand, for all its trauma in the stock market, its
executive hiring and its August network failure, is still one of the
most promising Internet-related companies in the Netplex or anywhere
else in the country.
AOL's new business-to-business strategy shows it is willing to take
risks for new revenue streams, but also that it is running out of time.
While AOL must convince business users that it's not just a consumer
company, it has a chance. There is no way Prodigy or CompuServe could
come close with such an offering. Other online service providers such as
Genie, bought recently by IDT Corp., Hackensack, N.J., from GE
Information Services after it was run into the ground, have already
fallen by the wayside. IDT said it bought Genie for its games.
While it's unlikely AOL's value would be reduced to one area of
content, now is the time to take all the great stuff it has and merge it
with a powerful corporate parent. MCI is linked too closely with
Microsoft, and Sprint can't figure out how to promote the fact that it
really is a big Internet player.
AT&T's deep pockets would give AOL the marketing clout it lacks on its
own. The two brand names together would be virtually unbeatable for
consumers and businesses alike. In all things Internet, AT&T, Basking
Ridge, N.J., tends to sit back and wait for things to shake out. Then it
attacks and comes out on top. The problem is, as with its WorldNet
service, AT&T still doesn't exactly know what it's doing. AOL does. All
egos aside, AT&T's America Online would be the most powerful of the
emerging supercarrier breed.
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