To: joe who wrote (21357 ) 9/10/1998 1:35:00 PM From: Mang Cheng Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 45548
From WSJ this morning : Dow Jones Newswires -- September 10, 1998 "3Com Up 5% On Renewed Speculation Of Intel Merger " By Maria V. Georgianis NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Published rumors that Intel Corp. (INTC) officials have been spending "an inordinate amount of time" at 3Com Corp.'s (COMS) headquarters lately renewed speculation that Intel and 3Com were considering a merger and sent 3Com up as 5.2% Thursday. Thursday's speculation was spurred by TheStreet.com columnist Herb Greenberg, who wrote that sources told him Intel officials have been spending a lot of time at 3Com. He repeated the information during a Thursday CNBC appearance. "It's plausible but my read on my discussions with 3Com management makes me believe it's not likely," said Warburg Dillon Read LLC analyst Paul Sagawa. While Intel is known as a chip maker, it also has the second-largest market share in network interface cards following 3Com, Sagawa said, noting that Intel heretofore has "given appearance of dipping its toe," in the networking equipment market. But Intel is interested in adding more functionality to its computer motherboards, Sagawa noted. A combined Intel-3Com would create a company with an at least 70% share of the network interface card market, the analyst said. Network interface cards allow computers to connect to a network. Intel declined to comment on the rumor. 3Com couldn't be reached for comment. 3Com was recently up 1 5/16 to 26 11/16 on Nasdaq volume of 9.4 million, compared with average daily volume of 7.5 million. The shares reached an intraday high of 28 1/8. Intel was off 1 15/16, or 2.4%, to 79 5/16.