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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 10:03:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

I thought that they just had stories on cancer cures!

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 10:06:00 AM
From: tonyt	Respond to of 32384

>...and Screw ROFL!!

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 10:07:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Actually, The AHP and MTC employees (as well as their subsidiaries) love to read the news. They are hitting Links to Ligand at about 200 hits per hour and I think that the counter site is getting ready to crash again.

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 10:20:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Actually, It's amazing to see the number of subsidiaries of each company. Looks like there are quite a few seed companies out there affiliated with MTC.

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 5:15:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

As predicted, the counters did crash at the LGND web site when hits stated coming in at about 300 per hour. There is a remarkable amount of interest in the merger.

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 5:18:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Even Dow Jones is reading the boards: Dow Jones Newswires -- June 1, 1998 Amer Home Pdts-Monsanto Deal Caught Chat Rooms By Surprise By Johanna Bennett NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Every investor on the Internet knew Monsanto Co. (MTC) would merge with someone. And those searching chat rooms for advice found a list of more than half a dozen possible candidates. But when the deal finally took place, it was with the least-talked-about among them. The $34 billion merger of American Home Products Corp. (AHP) and Monsanto caught the Internet community by surprise. Known for their eagerness to trade the latest - and sometimes, the most far-fetched - rumors and speculation about mergers and other corporate developments, chat-room pundits and message-board gurus were gaping in surprise as the news hit the wires early Monday morning. "Who would have expected this?" asked "BJones," a participant on the Motley Fool's American Home Products' message board. Rumors pairing Monsanto with any number of partners sped across Internet chat rooms for most of last month: Pfizer Inc. (PFE), DuPont & Co. (DD), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), and Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. (PNU) were among the names mentioned. As for American Home Products, it has been the topic of speculation since the highly publicized disintegration of merger talks with SmithKline Beecham PLC (SBH) earlier this year. But it wasn't until this weekend that a few brief rumblings of a deal in the making appeared on Web sites, and only one actually linked Monsanto and American Home Products. "It seems like the CEOs were keeping it under wraps," said "TMF Karen," a moderator on the Motley Fool's "Fool Chat," a popular on-line chat room for investors. The rumblings were set off by unusual action late last week in June 50 call options for American Home Products. A posting on Yahoo! Finance's American Home Products' message board Saturday regarding the unusual options activity drew responses from some on-line investors that a merger deal was imminent. By Sunday, the chatter had increased. A posting on Yahoo! Finance's American Home Products' message board offered what purported to be an insider's point of view: The author claimed to be an employee of American Home Products. "The merger was to happen after the close on Friday," it said. But even that insider posting didn't mention Monsanto. -Johanna Bennett; 201-938-5670

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 5:21:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Here's a Dow Jones summary: Dow Jones Newswires -- June 1, 1998 Monsanto Hldrs Eye Long-Term Gain In No-Premium AHP Deal By Melanie Trottman NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Monsanto Co. (MTC) shareholders will receive virtually no premium in the $34 billion merger agreement with American Home Products Corp. (AHP) announced earlier Monday, a scenario that could leave Monsanto shareholders grumbling. But several stockholders of the St. Louis-based biotechnology giant disregarded this, claiming that their focus is more on the long-term benefits rather than any immediate gain received through the pricing of the agreement. "I'm fairly pleased with the deal," said Jeff Poppenhagen, a portfolio manager for Pioneering Management Corp., a Monsanto shareholder. "Over time, I think this could be an incredibly powerful company. That's what I think will be the benefit for the shareholders," Poppenhagen said. Pioneering Management, the Boston-based unit of Pioneer Group Inc. (PIOG), held about 1.63 million shares of Monsanto at the end of March, Poppenhagen said. Stock analysts pointed out that Monsanto's share price had run up sharply in recent months - from a 1998 low of 38 5/16 in January to 55 3/8 on Friday - and may have made it more difficult to obtain a premium. American Home Products' shares closed Friday at 48 5/16. Under the agreement, American Home Products shareholders will keep their shares, while Monsanto shareholders get 1.15 shares of the new company for each Monsanto share held. Based on American Home Products' closing stock price Friday, each Monsanto shareholder will get a consideration of about $55.55 per share. That's a mere 17 1/2-cent, or .3% premium offered to Monsanto shareholders based on the closing price of Monsanto's stock Friday. Despite the terms, shareholders of Monsanto didn't seem shaken. Bob Goodof, a chemicals analyst with Loomis Sayles & Co., another Monsanto shareholder, said the merger is a "huge biotech opportunity" for Monsanto. "Monsanto was striving to get involved in a bigger operation because they needed to fund growth," Goodof said. The merger, he said, will be good for the stocks of both companies and will give the combined entity a chance to trade at a higher multiple. Loomis Sayles holds roughly two million shares on Monsanto. The 12-month forward price earnings ratio of Monsanto is 46.5, according to a spokesman with First Call. That's more than twice the average Dow Jones Industrial Average price earnings ratio of 22.9. The announcement of the deal didn't drive Monsanto's shares higher Monday. Shares of the company closed down 7/8 at 54 1/2, or 1.6%, on volume of 7.75 million shares. Average daily volume is 1.42 million shares. American Home Products shares closed higher, at 49 1/4, up 15/16, or 1.9% on volume of 7.9 million shares. Average daily volume is 2.9 million shares.

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/1/1998 5:28:00 PM
From: tonyt	Respond to of 32384

Looks like there isn't a remarkable amount of interest in Ligand as it finished down again (Vical, however, finished up 10%) exchange2000.com

To: celeryroot.com who wrote (21599)	6/2/1998 8:57:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Looks like the merger companies are more interested in news from more traditional sources. If the Pagecount server doesn't crash again today, the counter on home.att.net should pass the 20,000 hit mark today. There really have already been over 20,000 hits to that page, but each time there is big merger news, the hits come in so fast that the server crashes. It was down for several hours again yesterday when hits to that page alone were coming in at over 100 per hour (a similar hit rate was being recorded for home.att.net ). This morning I updated the merger page and hits are again north of 100 per hour. Last time I looked, the counter was about 19,680 so we should hit 20,000 right about the time of the ONTAK approval rec :-). P.S. I didn't hit "Reload" on my browser. Counter is already north of 19,800 for home.att.net