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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (19247)	1/25/2000 10:49:00 AM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

That question stands in stark contrast to another opinion I heard this evening, that being that AOL might not want to hold on to those cable assets much longer, since they are now top heavy with content. Does that make any sense to you, or anyone else? I can see the logic to this to some extent, if it becomes a matter of outsourcing efficiencies, and avoiding the drudgery of lower level maintenance tasks. It's more like being married to the wrong woman when the right one comes along. Everyone assumes that AOL bought TWX for the pipes. I've listened to you tell me how limiting HFC is for the implementing OA and full VOD. Why would AOL want to hold on to a dumb pipe (with the attendant maintenance nightmares)? I keep thinking about that old children's joke. Where can a 2 ton elephant sit? Pretty much anywhere it wants to. So why do they need to own it? They don't need to own cable assets any more than they needed to own telephone assets. But I also see how AOL would not want to find themselves in a position similar to Home's present predicament at some point, beholding to another set of partners with fickle intentions, when their entire multimedia farm was at stake at a much later date. Do you doubt WCOM isn't trying to do whatever it takes to keep AOL on their network? When these FTTH networks start rolling out with their ability to carry any and all ISPs at magnitudes faster than HFC, what will the big dumb cable guys do to hold onto @Home? What have you done for me lately? The best position from which to negotiate any deal is the ability to walk. I'm thinking it's not such a bad thing to not own that last mile if it is about to become obsolete. Two can be fickle.