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To: JBL who wrote (27614)	11/22/1998 3:05:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

America Online Is in Talks To Buy Netscape in Stock Deal By KARA SWISHER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL America Online Inc. is in talks to buy Netscape Communications Corp. in an all-stock transaction that may also involve Sun Microsystems Inc., people familiar with the situation say. Financial terms weren't available. But any pact is likely to value Netscape at some premium to its current market capitalization of about $4 billion, these people said. Under terms now being discussed, AOL, of Dulles, Va., would take over Netscape's Netcenter Web site (www.netscape.com), as well as Netscape's well-known software for browsing the Web. In a side agreement, Sun is considering an arrangement under which it would take control of Netscape's business software, paying AOL a fee for using Netscape technology, these people said. The three companies have been in talks all week and over the weekend, and a final agreement may not be reached. But some people familiar with the situation believe a deal could be announced before stock markets open Monday morning. If so, the arrangement would mark a dramatic end to the independent existence of Mountain View, Calif.-based Netscape, whose meteoric rise and bruising battle with Microsoft Corp. have been the subject of multiple books and historic antitrust charges aimed at Microsoft. Such a deal also would provide additional ammunition as AOL and Sun continue to slug it out against Microsoft on several fronts. In trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Netscape's shares closed Friday at $39.875, up $2.625; Sun closed at $67, down 25 cents, also on Nasdaq. AOL closed at $84.875, up $1.50 in composite New York Stock Exchange trading.