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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robert duke who wrote (12010)	11/23/1998 7:38:00 PM
From: John F. Dowd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13594

Robert Duke: I don't see it that way. They seem to be using the merger to point out the folly of the lawsuit and that the market place works a lot faster than government. After all if NSCP was so irreparably harmed by MSFT why are they worth so much today? Read the following: AOL Bid for Netscape Proves DoJ Allegations Against Microsoft Are Groundless, Trade Group Says PR Newswire - November 23, 1998 15:45 WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is the statement of Jonathan Zuck, Executive Director of the Association for Competitive Technology, on the proposed $4 billion acquisition of Netscape Communications Corp. by America Online. "The Justice Department has so far spent five weeks and untold millions of dollars to persuade a federal court that Microsoft's integration of Internet functionality into its Windows operating system presents a grave and serious threat to Netscape. "AOL's bid to acquire Netscape proves how wrong the government is. The company's $4 billion price tag highlights Netscape's incredible success in a dynamic and highly competitive industry. "The alliance is neither unusual or surprising. The technology industry is constantly changing as companies devise new products and new strategies to meet consumer demand. Acquisitions and alliances among competitors are the norm, not the exception, as each company tries to position itself for a future in which the only constant is constant change. "What this deal shows is just how quickly today's Davids can become tomorrow's industry Goliaths -- and just how quickly today's giants can fall. "The acquisition, along with the proposed alliance with Sun Microsystems, will combine the world's largest online service with the world's most popular Web site and a highly successful business providing software for building and managing Web sites. This triumvirate will overnight create the biggest and most powerful Internet enterprise ever seen -- one that will dominate the markets for Internet access, 'portal' sites, and e-commerce simultaneously. "Netscape's billionaire executives lobbied for a helping hand from the feds, claiming that Microsoft would drive the company out of business. The Justice Department bought it hook, line, and sinker. "By courting a $4 billion suitor, Netscape has proven that the government's case is wrong. Unfortunately, taxpayers are still stuck with the tab." SOURCE Association for Competetive Technology JFD