MCI WorldCom Plans to Double Number of Shares, WSJ Reports
Bloomberg News
May 21, 1999, 1:34 a.m. ET
Jackson, Mississippi, May 21 (Bloomberg) -- MCI WorldCom
Inc., the No. 2 U.S. long-distance phone company, is doubling
the number of shares it can issue, a move that would allow Chief
Executive Bernard Ebbers to use the stock to pay for a purchase
without having to get explicit approval from the board, the Wall
Street Journal Europe reported, citing people close to the
situation. Shareholders approved a resolution increasing the
number of available shares from 2.5 billion to 5 billion, to
improve the company's financial flexibility, the WSJ said. MCI
WorldCom recently ended talks with Nextel Communications Inc.
because it would have meant the assumption of billions of
dollars of debt, and people familiar with the company said MCI
WorldCom could buy Sprint Corp. or a regional Bell operating
company in the U.S., the newspaper said.
MCI WorldCom is expected to buy a wireless company within a
year, even after talks between the No. 2 U.S. long-distance
phone company and wireless provider Nextel failed, analysts said
on May 6.
(The Wall Street Journal Europe 5/21 www.wsj.com)
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