Actually two deals made by ATT. The Mediacom deal was $2.2B. Add that fact that ATT sold its 10 percent stake in Japan Telecom Co. for $1.35 billion today. A few billion here, a few billion there, and pretty soon you have some real money.<gg>
I also like Armstrong's plan to focus on metropolitan areas and the "digital phone" seems to be working (selling phone service over the cable).
home-news.excite.com
AT&T Seals Two More Deals
Updated: Tue, Feb 27 04:54 PM EST
By BRUCE MEYERSON, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Rapidly chiseling away at its mountain of debt, AT&T Corp. has struck two separate deals to sell its 10 percent stake in Japan Telecom Co. for $1.35 billion and some cable TV systems in four states for about $2.2 billion.
The transactions, unveiled Tuesday, will help reduce AT&T's debt to about $42.5 billion, down from a peak of $62 billion in the fall. Credit agencies warned AT&T to reduce its debt load when the company announced plans to split into three independent companies.
The Japan Telecom stake is being sold to Vodafone Group PLC, giving the British wireless company 25 percent of Japan's third biggest phone company.
The deal comes three months after AT&T aligned itself with a different Japanese carrier, selling 16 percent of its wireless business for $9.8 billion to NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile phone company.
Separately, AT&T also announced an agreement to sell cable systems serving about 840,000 basic subscribers in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to Mediacom Communications Corp.
The systems in Georgia serve Albany, Columbus, Tifton and Valdosta. The systems in Illinois serve Charleston, Carbondale, Effingham, Marion, Moline and Rock Island. The Iowa systems serve Ames, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Iowa City, Mason City and Waterloo. The Missouri systems serve Columbia, Jefferson City and Springfield.
Mediacom, based in Middletown, N.Y., will more than double its customer base with the acquisition, serving 1.6 million cable subscribers in 23 states.
The sale would leave AT&T Broadband with about 15 million cable TV subscribers across the nation.
"Our long-term goal is to operate cable systems clustered in major metropolitan markets," said Dan Somers, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Broadband.
The Mediacom deal doesn't have any bearing on the current three-way stalemate between AT&T, AOL Time Warner Inc. and the Federal Communications Commission regarding AT&T's vast cable holdings.
The FCC has ordered AT&T to bring its ownership of cable systems below the government limit by selling its 25.5 percent stake in Time Warner Entertainment.
However, talks to sell the stake to AOL Time Warner have reportedly bogged down over AOL's desire to include new distribution agreements for its programming over AT&T cable systems.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that AOL Time Warner has offered $9 billion to $10 billion to buy out AT&T's stake. To bolster its bargaining position, however, AT&T is threatening to sell its stake in Time Warner Entertainment through an initial public offering of stock, a move that would handcuff AOL's control of TWE.
Meanwhile, AT&T also has filed to spin off Liberty Media Corp., a holding company for interests in major programming companies, including AOL Time Warner, as well as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Starz Encore Group, QVC, and Discovery Channel.
Shares of AT&T rose $1.07, or 5 percent, to $22.91 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. |
