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To: Jing Qian who wrote (8635)	4/26/1999 2:40:00 AM
From: RTev	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

[to thread] It's always interesting to see the local reaction to stories like the T/UMG merger. Comcast is based in Philadelphia. Earlier, the link to the Philly take was posted. Both AT&T's new Broadband division and UMG are based in a Denver suburb (no, not that one, but close). Here's what Denver's media has to say: rockymountainnews.com Comcast Corp. will be hard-pressed to beat AT&T's $62.5 billion offer in the bidding war for Arapahoe County cable giant MediaOne Group Inc., investors and analysts said last week. In a contest of deep pockets, Comcast is no match, especially given AT&T's willingness to pay a premium in its quest to deliver local telephone service via the television cable. The ATHM/RR aspect of the merger isn't mentioned, but then, ATHM is a California company, so one should look to the Mercury News for that, and they haven't addressed the issue yet.

To: Jing Qian who wrote (8635)	4/26/1999 7:24:00 AM
From: Sleeper	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Jing, here's an interesting and current summary of the state of affairs: Monday April 26 2:13 AM ET Comcast studies options By Martin Peers NEW YORK (Variety) - Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news) is studying a wide range of options to respond to rival suitor AT&T's hostile $62 billion bid for MediaOne Group, including asking its minority shareholder Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) to help finance a cash portion of a higher offer, Wall Streeters said Friday. But Comcast is thought to have a completely open mind on whether it will counter AT&T's offer, with the possibility that it could also withdraw its friendly $53 billion offer. Comcast declined comment. And the chances of Microsoft, which invested $1 billion in Comcast in exchange for a minority stake two years ago, putting up more money to finance a bid is questionable. Microsoft has business relations with AT&T and MediaOne, observers noted, although Microsoft declined comment. Other potential partners include America Online, billionaire Microsoft co-founder and recent cable buyer Paul Allen, as well as cable companies such as Cox Communications, Wall Streeters speculated. One analyst noted that AOL had looked at cable deals in the past without going forward, while a deal with Cox would be unwieldy to mount. A partnership with Allen might be more feasible. The software magnate has been an aggressive buyer of cable properties such as Marcus Cable and Charter in the past year. Charter, now Allen's vehicle for cable, declined comment on a possible partnership with Comcast. Investors appear to expect Comcast to come back with a higher offer, as they bid Comcast stock up just 12 cents to $67.75 Friday. Comcast stock would rise more sharply if the deal was being abandoned, because it was an expensive offer. Comcast needs its stock to go up if it is to have any chance of fighting AT&T's higher offer, because the cable company proposes to use its stock to pay for MediaOne. Its original offer was 1.1 shares for each MediaOne share, which put a value on its deal of $80 per MediaOne share when it was unveiled a month ago, but is now worth only $74.52 per share as a result of a decline in Comcast's stock price. AT&T's bid, in contrast, was worth $87.37 when it was unveiled Thursday night, of which $30.85 was cash with the rest in AT&T stock. AT&T further strengthened its offer by guaranteeing to raise the cash component if its stock fell as much as 10%, putting a floor of $85 a share on its bid unless AT&T's stock plummets. AT&T stock fell $3.50 to $53.25 Friday, which took its offer down to $85 a share. MediaOne stock soared $7.87 to $77.37 in response. Comcast executives were closeted in meetings at the weekend pondering their options, assisted by bankers from Salomon Smith Barney and Lazard Freres. The company is under no pressure to make a decision or publicly respond until MediaOne responds to the AT&T offer, which is likely to be a week or two away. AT&T said Friday that MediaOne had until May 6 to accept the offer and reject the Comcast deal, although the telco said MediaOne could extend this deadline by three weeks at that point if it wished. MediaOne has to ask its advisor, Lehman Bros., for an analysis of AT&T offer, Wall Streeters said. MediaOne declined comment. In the meantime, Comcast is sure to look at every option, ranging from withdrawing to responding with a higher bid. It needs to include a cash component in its offer to have any chance. And while Comcast has a strong balance sheet, it is about one-tenth the size of AT&T. As SG Cowen analyst Gary Farber said Friday, ''AT&T's premium bid combined with its cash component and (the telco)'s financial wherewithal make a competitive response from Comcast for the entire MediaOne property quite challenging.'' Meanwhile, early reaction from Washington to the deal was not positive. Most of the federal government was closed on Friday for the NATO meeting, but two key congressional figures raised questions. In a statement issued by Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.,) ranking Democrat on the subcommittee: ''This proposed purchase of MediaOne Group by AT&T is a big roll of the dice for consumers.'' While the proposal has the potential to increase telephone competition -- especially in local residential markets -- it also raises many tough questions regarding cable concentration and ownership caps, program exclusivity, and competition throughout the industry. This would be another major change in the fast-moving telecommunications market, and lawmakers and regulators are going to have to take a serious look at this takeover attempt.''