Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (2462)	2/2/2000 7:33:00 AM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Mannesmann, Vodafone Moving Closer on Price, Board Member Says By Sonja Heizmann Mannesmann, Vodafone Moving Closer on Price, Board Member Says Dusseldorf, Germany, Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Mannesmann AG and Vodafone Airtouch Plc are nearing an agreement on price in Vodafone's bid for Germany's largest mobile phone company, though remain at odds over strategy, a Mannesmann board member said. ``We've been in talks with the other side all of last year and even recently,' Lars Berg, head of the German company's telecommunications, said during an HSBC-sponsored conference in Dusseldorf. ``We've come closer in discussions of figures.' Vodafone last year began a $184.7 billion hostile bid for Mannesmann, offering 53.7 Vodafone shares for each Mannesmann share. The two have been locked in battle as Mannesmann maintains the bid is too low and its strategy of integrated traditional phone, cellular and Internet service is superior to Vodafone's cellular focus. A weekend announcement that French partner Vivendi SA was discussing merging with Vodafone further ``highlighted' the difference in strategies between Vodafone and Mannesmann, Berg said. ``We were fully on our way to creating a merger with Vivendi,' he said. ``It's a very destructive deal. It would destroy the integration approach that Mannesmann has successfully followed.' Berg said a link with AOL Europe is a ``possibility' as Mannesmann strives to beef up its Internet activities. Mannesmann shares rose 5 percent, or 14.7 euros, to 311 while Vodafone climbed 7.5 percent, or 27p, to 387.