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Technology Stocks : METRICOM - Wireless Data Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E_K_S who wrote (674)	4/6/1998 2:19:00 PM
From: Tom Scozzafava	Respond to of 3376

I think paragraph six touches on what may be Metricom's place in Allen's strategy. However, no one from his camp has ever stated that the MCOM investment has been made for anything other than its stand-alone capacity....have they??? If this is indeed the case, MCOM may be quite risky in that its fate depends on Allen's ability to amass a large, national cable network over which to use Metricom's internet access devices. Is this a realistic goal? Aren't these properties expensive? Anyway, I'm not sure how I even see how wireless internet access would tie into cable network directly. Doesn't the company still face the (seemingly) daunting task of rolling out (on telephone poles???)? --------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Allen buying Marcus Cable DALLAS, April 6 (Reuters) - Computer billionaire Paul Allen is buying Dallas-based Marcus Cable Co., the nation's largest closely held cable television company, for about $2.775 billion, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday. Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft Corp (MSFT - news), was to announce the deal at a news conference in Dallas at 1 p.m. CDT (1400 EDT). The source said the $2.775 billion price tag included the assumption of some debt but did not give further details. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday that Allen was buying Marcus Cable for about $2 billion plus the assumption of $1 billion in debt. Representatives for Allen said it was his largest-ever acquisition outside of Microsoft. ''Investor Paul G. Allen will announce a significant investment and acquisition in the cable industry,'' they said. ''This represents Allen's largest non-Microsoft investment to date.'' The Wall Street Journal said Allen eventually hoped to knit together enough smaller cable systems to let him build a big platform for bringing new services, such as Internet access, over cable-TV lines. Marcus Cable is the country's ninth largest cable operator. It has 1.1 million customers in 18 states with its principal markets in Wisconsin, Southern California, Birmingham, Ala., Indiana, Tennessee and Fort Worth, Texas. Company executives said early last month they were putting it up for sale and hoped to get $3 billion or more. Goldman Sachs & Co owns 36 percent of the company, chief executive office Jeff Marcus and his management team own 14 percent and the rest is owned by five investment companies, including Dallas-based Hicks, Muse Tate & Furst, which has a 19 percent stake.

To: E_K_S who wrote (674)	4/6/1998 3:21:00 PM
From: Dennis R. Duke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3376

As to a spin for MCOM, maybe tomorrow when Bill Savoy (sp?) will be on CNBC for "Power Lunch". Maybe he will speak nicely about MCOM and other Vulcan Ventures plays. At least I hope so....Oh, did anybody here see the US News & World Report piece on MCOM in today's edition? Dennis

To: E_K_S who wrote (674)	4/10/1998 1:25:00 PM
From: Rex Takasugi	Respond to of 3376

<< What do you think the impact on MCOM will be with this announcement today by our largest shareholder Paul Allen? >> Hi, Eric! Sorry I haven't been checking this message board much lately. Just haven't seen the technical signals I want to see to justify another buy recommendation. Having not had the opportunity to speak to Paul Allen, I just have to offer my opinion that this announcement fits in with Allen's long term strategy to wire the world, one way or another. Cable fits those fixed locations that have access to cable. Satellite covers those fixed locations that don't have access to cable. Ricochet covers the mobile market. This is not a new strategy, by any means. The announcement's effect on MCOM stock is probably neutral to slightly positive long term. It indicates to me that Allen/Savoy have a serious commitment to wiring the world, of which, MCOM is a small, but growing portion. If they are willing to direct that much money to cable, they surely must be willing to direct a much smaller portion to wireless. Offsetting that positive is that less attention is paid to MCOM. By the way, Q1 Engs Release is currently scheduled for May 14th at 1:30 p.m. PDT. No call in number has been set up yet. (per MCOM IR) I'm hoping that we'll all get more updated on the details of the 128 kbps rollout. Best Regards, Rex