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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (16185)	6/18/1998 4:47:00 PM
From: Constantine Turevsky	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

15:59 3Com, Ascend Shares Up On Rumors Of Takeover By Ericsson (Copyright (c) 1998, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of 3Com Corp. (COMS) and Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND) were up Thursday on ongoing rumors that Swedish telecommunications equipment maker L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. (ERICY) could acquire one of the data networking companies. Rumors of acquisitions in the computer networking companies by the big phone equipment companies have been sweeping the sector for a number of months and heated up this week after Northern Telecom Ltd. (NT) finally announced its long-anticipated purchase of Bay Networks Inc. (BAY). That deal itself has attracted a lot of criticism on Wall Street and some have speculated that it could unravel or that another suitor - including possibly Ericsson or Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) - could still make a run at Bay Networks. Several analysts maintained, however, they would be very surprised if the deal between Nortel and Bay Networks fell apart. Officials at Ascend and Bay Networks declined comment, while Northern Telecom, 3Com and Ericsson couldn't be immediately reached for comment. Shares of 3Com were recently up 2 1/4, or 9.1%, at 26 7/8 on Nasdaq volume of 11.2 million compared with an average daily volume of 6.9 million. Ascend's shares were recently up 1 5/8, or 3.3%, at 51 on Nasdaq volume of 7.9 million compared with an average daily volume of 7 million. Ericsson's shares were down 1 9/16, or 5.7%, at 25 7/8 on Nasdaq volume of 6.8 million compared with an average daily volume of 4.2 million. Bay Networks, meanwhile, was up 3/16, or 0.6%, at 30 3/16. And Nortel was up 1/2, or 1%, at 53.

To: Scrapps who wrote (16185)	6/18/1998 5:36:00 PM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 22053

Schwab Complains to Congress of NYSE Fee Increase for Quotes Washington, June 18 (Bloomberg) -- On-line brokerages, whose customers want the latest market information, complained to Congress that they're being disproportionately hit by a doubling of fees paid for real-time stock quotes. A New York Stock Exchange-administered group of national markets began a pilot program in October that raised fees they charge brokerages for up-to-date quotes of all stocks listed on national markets. Martha Deevy, a senior vice president at San Francisco's Charles Schwab Corp., said the world's largest on-line brokerage has absorbed the extra cost, but has had to delay some quotes provided to customers. ''This makes it harder to give individual investors a level playing field,'' Deevy told the House Commerce subcommittee on finance. A New York Stock Exchange spokesman declined comment. Earlier this year, the exchange group, called the Consolidated Tape Association, defended its fee increase as ''fair and reasonable,'' telling Schwab that it was not discriminatory because it applied equally to all broker-dealers. Deevy asked the congressional panel and the Securities and Exchange Commission to require exchanges, including the NYSE, to reduce fees ''to a level that more accurately reflects their costs in providing the information.'' Echoing that request was Joseph Fox, chairman of Web Street Financial Group Inc., another on-line brokerage. The chairman of the House panel, however, said he has no plans to weigh in on the issue. ''I don't expect efforts to pressure anyone would be successful, at least in short term,'' Representative Michael Oxley, an Ohio Republican, said in an interview. The exchanges, while charging fees for real-time quotes, don't charge brokerages for quotes that are delayed for 15 to 20 minutes, said Scott Campbell, a Schwab associate general counsel. While Schwab now is providing more delayed quotes to its customers, that information is less useful, he said in an interview. Customers of on-line brokerages are more affected by the fee increase because they rely on real-time quotes more heavily than clients of more traditional firms, Campbell said. The exchange fees were doubled to a penny a quote, from half a penny, increasing Schwab's costs by millions of dollars a year, he said. Schwab also complained to the SEC in a March letter about the NYSE fees and asked the agency to step in. SEC spokesman Chris Ullman said the complaint involves ''a complicated and contentious issue, and one that we are currently looking at.'' o~~~ O

To: Scrapps who wrote (16185)	6/18/1998 6:10:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

TI restructures, sells assets: Memory chip business sold to Micron for $800 million; 3,500 job cuts seen CNNfn - June 18, 1998: 5:14 p.m. ET NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) Thursday agreed to sell its troubled memory chip business to Micron Technology Inc. for about $800 million as part of an overall restructuring that includes the elimination of 3,500 jobs. In a joint statement, the companies said the transaction includes the purchase of substantially all of Texas Instruments' (TXN) semiconductor memory assets as well as TI's shares in its two dynamic random access memory manufacturing joint ventures. The DRAM industry has been suffering from pricing pressures, in part because the stronger dollar makes chips produced in South Korea cheaper than their American counterparts. In connection with the sale of the memory business, TI said it could recognize a "material loss" when the transaction closes. Separately, TI said it will implement a worldwide restructuring program, which will result in a material charge in the second quarter of 1998. The plan will include the elimination of about 3,500 jobs around the world over the next few months through voluntary programs, attrition, outsourcing and layoffs, as well as the consolidation of several smaller facilities. The restructuring is expected to result in pretax savings of about $270 million annually, which essentially offsets the fixed and allocated costs of the memory business that are not absorbed by Micron (MU). The transaction includes the purchase of substantially all of TI's assets involving dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), as well as TI's shares in its two manufacturing joint ventures. The business accounted for less than 12 percent of TI's $2.1 billion in sales in the first quarter. Under the terms of the unusually structured transaction, Texas Instruments will receive about 28.9 million shares of Micron, plus convertible debt securities. Micron also will assume about $190 million of government-sponsored debt associated with TI's Italian memory operations. In addition to TI's memory assets, Micron will receive $750 million in financing from TI to facilitate the deployment of Micron's technology throughout the business. Micron and TI have also agreed upon a 10-year royalty-free semiconductor patent cross-license agreement, to begin January 1, 1999. TI will retain ownership of its related patents. The transaction, which is subject to various regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second half of this year. o~~~ O