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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (34136)	11/17/1999 5:06:00 PM
From: Gerald Walls	Respond to of 74651

Wow Gore went to bat for Boeing against the Europeans as if the Europeans have any say what goes on in this country. This is the global-speak of these Fabian socialists. The thought that Europe's concerns were ever a consideration in this merger boggles the mind. Airbus has been totally gov't. subsidized from the get go and yet this administration was concerned over the Europeans reaction to this merger. Unfortunately, they do. Foreign countries (where there's a significant market or manufacturing presence) have the right, via trade treaties, to fine the companies, place steep tariffs on products or exclude the products altogether of companies that do not seek and receive regulatory approval of those countries for a merger. The merging companies can, of course, fight the sanctions in the objecting foreign country's court. I'm not a Merge & Acquisitions lawyer so I don't know the details or trigger points. While Boeing/McDonnell Douglas or Honeywell/Allied Signal may not care much if Ecuador approves their respective mergers, you can bet they sure do care that the ECU approves. And yes, having the countries that heavily subsidize a US company's competitor trying to block a merger in order to extort terms favorable to their subsidized company is, IMHO, a travesty.

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (34136)	11/17/1999 5:31:00 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Why did Gore fight to prevent the Europeans from interfering with the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger? Because Airbus, as John notes, was a subsidized operation, and capable of underpricing Boeing at any time Airbus' benefactors decided it was in their interest. That included providing government loans at low interest rates and long term repayments - far better terms than any unsubsidized corporation could offer. Airbus, in fact, was capable of exerting control over the market for commercial aircraft in a manner quite analagous to the behavior cited in the court's fact finding on Microsoft.