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Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (21648)	11/22/1998 3:36:00 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

>>>may also involve Sun Microsystems, ??? What could this possibly mean? There was a lot of speculation that aol would buy nscp.

To: rudedog who wrote (21648)	11/22/1998 7:02:00 PM
From: Secret_Agent_Man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

America Online Is in Talks To Buy Netscape in Stock Deal In Side Arrangement, Sun Microsystems May Take Control of Business Software 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. Netscape's share of the browser market has declined dramatically since late 1995, when Microsoft launched a marketing campaign that included giving away its own software and courting major customers. One of Microsoft's biggest victories was convincing AOL in 1996 to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer software, edging out Netscape in a deal that included hurting Microsoft's own online service by giving AOL comparable promotion on the opening screen of Windows. The 1996 browser deal stipulates that AOL has the right to terminate the exclusivity clause of its relationship with Microsoft on Jan. 1, 1999. 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.