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Technology Stocks : WCOM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maven who wrote (4881)	8/13/1999 3:01:00 PM
From: ISP_Investor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 11568

Sept 75 puts are pretty cheap right now at $2. If stock closes at 70 or below in next 5 weeks, you double $. It is likely to see short term downside volatility with issues outstanding like what MCI has. Brand damage is usually measured as a % of market cap when the whole thing has been sorted out. You can expect this issue to hurt MCI WCOM brand as the reporters (who love to write about angry customers) put this in Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNBC, etc. Credits given to customers from outages may impact earnings. Here is a quote from a customer: "We are very upset because MCI WorldCom has only been feeding us happy stuff instead of telling us what is really going on," Sprouse said. "We have had customers tell us that they may go out of business because of this." If you could sum up the total business lost by the CBOT and ask WCOM to reimburse, if WCOM says no, then it goes to court and WCOM will be stuck in a lawsuit with one of its own customers. If an atty bundles this with others then you'll see a class action lawsuit, but for most large losses, it will be more effective for customers to sue individually rather than piggyback and share settlements. "Market users worldwide depend on Project A around the clock, and MCI WorldCom has let them down for one full week. As a result of MCI WorldCom's failure to deliver on their promises to me early last week, the CBOT is pursuing all available remedies," CBOT President Tom Donovan said in a statement.

To: Maven who wrote (4881)	8/14/1999 8:51:00 AM
From: JM	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 11568

Probably the start of many such articles to come: news.com As the problem remains unresolved,the bad press will continue, and there may be longer term economic impact to WCOM (more than I originally concluded). One wonders how all of the ISPs and business networks will deal with a shut down due to Y2K (a very distinct possibility)? Customers have come to expect flawless reliability in the performance of communications networks. Because these networks are designed and installed by inherently imperfect humans, this expectation is unreasonable. However, it appears WCOM will suffer the wrath of unsatisfied customers, which may effect economic performance. ATT recovered quite well from a similar incident. Not sure if WCOM is or will handle the problem as adeptly. I'm holding my WCOM shares and carefully observing.