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Technology Stocks : Global Crossing - GX (formerly GBLX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: M. Frank Greiffenstein who wrote (715)	4/26/1999 11:46:00 AM
From: Nick Papa	Respond to of 15615

FRO's COO on CNBC this afternoon. GBLX mentioned almost every hour.

To: M. Frank Greiffenstein who wrote (715)	4/26/1999 3:12:00 PM
From: Corkyc	Respond to of 15615

That's what I am afraid of, but I am long on the company, and think I will be kicking myself for not buying more when it dipped last month.

To: M. Frank Greiffenstein who wrote (715)	4/27/1999 7:16:00 AM
From: Teddy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15615

Nice article from The Wall Street Urinal: Dow Jones Newswires -- April 26, 1999 Global Crossing CEO Hailed For Acquisition Strategy By Janet Morrissey NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Robert Annunziata has gone on an acquisition tear since taking over the helm of telecommunications upstart Global Crossing Ltd. (GBLX) in February, and market watchers believe his actions have transformed the company into a force to be reckoned with as it pushes forward with efforts to build a global fiber-optic network. The acquisitions "have legitimized the company," said Tom Burnett, founder of New York research company Merger Insight. "It's come from nothing about three years ago to owning mature, high-quality assets." In March, less than three weeks after taking over as Global Crossing's chief executive, Annunziata raised investor eyebrows when he unveiled plans to acquire Frontier Corp., a Rochester, N.Y., telephone company, for $11.2 billion. The deal gave the Bermuda company a foothold in the U.S. long-distance market, greatly expanded the firm's local phone business, enabled the company to sell telecommunications services directly to multinational corporations, provided Internet expertise and pushed the company another step closer to its goal of creating a global fiber-optic network. Then Monday, Annunziata made investors sit up and take further notice when he announced plans to acquire the undersea cable operations of Cable & Wireless PLC (CWP) in an $885 million deal. This move will allow Global Crossing to install and maintain its own undersea communications network. In the past, the company has had to contract the work out to third parties and had expected to fork out $80 million to $100 million for this purpose annually. The Cable & Wireless deal will also allow Global Crossing to cash in on the whole undersea cable projects frenzy. Telephone companies, in a mad dash to get a leg up in the highly competitive Internet industry, have been seeking out additional fiber cables to carry their data around the world. That's why companies like Global Crossing that control fiber for the transmission of data, voice and video have become the darlings of Wall Street. Indeed, the company's stock price has skyrocketed from a split-adjusted IPO price of $9.50 when it entered the public arena last August, to a high of 62 5/8, set in March. Its shares closed Monday at 56 5/16. The company's market cap is expected to top the $33 billion mark when the two acquisitions close, the company said. Together, Annunziata's high-profile acquisitions step up Global Crossing's effort to lay down its own global fiber-optic network. "He thinks he's Michael Armstrong," quipped Burnett in a reference to AT&T's chairman and chief executive. "He's making a lot of deals." But he noted that the deals are transforming the company's "concept" into "reality." "These are high-profile proven assets" that the company has acquired, Burnett said. Until now, Merger Insight's Burnett said, Global Crossing's escalating stock price has been based on a concept, not reality. Market watchers credit CEO Annunziata for using his saavy telecommunications expertise to turn Global Crossing's plans into action. The executive is highly-regarded on Wall Street for his role in building up local exchange carrier Teleport Communications Group Inc. virtually from scratch before selling it to AT&T Corp. (T) for $12 billion in 1998. "This is a first class CEO with a track record at AT&T and Teleport for being able to build networks and sales infrastructure," said Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Stuart Conrad. While there are Wall Street concerns about the company's ability to execute its ambitious agenda, Conrad said Annunziata's expertise and the company's strong management team, which includes former Arco Chairman Lodwrick Cook, former Motorola Cellular Networks President Jack Scanlon, and former AT&T Submarine Systems President William Carter, bode well for the company's ability to carry out its plan. Annunziata himself said he's following the same formula he used when building Teleport, and doesn't rule out even more acquisitions or joint ventures in the months ahead. "Absolutely ... We look at what we need and (act when we) see opportunities to fill a void," said Annunziata. "We're always looking and analyzing whether it's better to build or buy it." The executive added, "I know how to build and operate telecommunications companies," noting that he joined Teleport "when there were only five employees." Annunziata said the Frontier deal fills a void that the company had in the U.S. market while the Cable & Wireless unit acquisition helps the company control its destiny since it will have the ability to lay and maintain its fiber cables rather than farming out the business to someone else. "There was no overlap," said Annunziata, adding that Global Crossing is on track to have its fiber optic network in place in most parts of the world, with the exception of South America, in 2000. The South American network is slated to be in operation in 2001.