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To: Uncle Frank who wrote (43152)	10/3/1999 5:50:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

This Could Get Interesting> Bell South might bid for Sprint by: iron_air 40833 of 40833 Bell South might bid for Sprint biz.yahoo.com NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Regional telephone company BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS - news) may bid for long-distance carrier Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON - news), which reportedly is in talks to merge with MCI WorldCom Inc. (NasdaqNM:WCOM - news), according to a newspaper report. BellSouth, which operates in the U.S. Southeast, could make a bid sometime this week in a deal that would be worth nearly $90 billion, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Friday. ''No competing bid from BellSouth is likely until later in the week -- if it comes at all,'' it said in the report. Spokesmen for BellSouth and Sprint told Reuters Sunday that their respective companies did not comment on rumors. BellSouth shares ended up 9/16 at 45-9/16 in New York on Friday, while Sprint closed 2-3/4 higher at 57, and MCI WorldCom slipped 1-3/8 at 70-1/2. Sprint Chief Executive Willian Esrey recently declined to comment on reports that his carrier was talking with MCI WorldCom. But he said ''hypothetically'' that the two would complete a deal within 18 months -- if they were to reach one. MCI WorldCom's acquisition of Sprint would combine the No. 2 and No. 3 U.S. long-distance carriers to create a powerful competitor to leader AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news). Should BellSouth's offer be spurned, it might make a bid for part of Sprint, such as its Internet network, which could be worth about $4 billion, the report said, citing analysts. ''BellSouth is also considering a range of other options, including acquisition of several attractive pieces of Sprint,'' the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said. Such a purchase would be feasible, since MCI WorldCom would have to spin off Sprint's Internet division for its possible acquisition of the carrier to get regulatory approval, it said. BellSouth of Atlanta, Ga., could also try to buy Sprint's local telephone service in Florida and the Carolinas, which overlap its own territory, the report said. Meanwhile, Business Week magazine said in a report posted on its Web site on Friday that BellSouth was leaning toward bidding for all of Sprint. ''For BellSouth, which has long sat out the merger mania sweeping the telecommunications industry, a deal for all of Sprint's long-distance, wireless and local operations would give the ... Bell operating company the national and international reach it lacks,'' it said, quoting unidentified sources. ''One complication is that BellSouth is unlikely to have its counteroffer ready before the Sprint board meets on Oct. 3,'' it said. ''Any bid for Sprint likely wouldn't come until the following week.'' BellSouth had been mulling a bid for Sprint for more than a year but was forced into action last week by news reports that MCI WorldCom was in talks with Sprint, it added.