To: David Tabb who wrote (366 ) 5/3/1999 12:11:00 AM From: David Tabb Respond to of 471
Here's the news many have been waiting for: Top Financial News Sun, 02 May 1999, 9:15pm EDT MediaOne Approves AT&T $62.5 Bln Bid, Gives Comcast a Thursday Deadline MediaOne Approves $62.5 Bln AT&T Bid; Beckons Comcast (Update1) (Adds detail, comment and background throughout.) Englewood, Colorado, May 2 (Bloomberg) -- MediaOne Group Inc.'s board approved AT&T Corp.'s unsolicited $62.5 billion buyout offer and gave Comcast Corp. until Thursday to come up with a competing bid, Comcast Treasurer John Alchin said. Comcast, the No. 3 U.S. cable system operator, agreed Friday to work with Microsoft Corp. and America Online Inc. in sweetening its friendly $55.5 billion bid for MediaOne, the No. 4 U.S. cable operator. Billionaire Paul Allen, who is building his own large cable company through acquisitions, also is talking with Comcast, said a person familiar with the talks. AT&T is offering $30.85 in cash and 0.95 of a share of AT&T common stock for each MediaOne share. Comcast offered 1.1 shares of Comcast special Class A shares for each MediaOne share, and is now seeking partners to boost the offer. The winning bidder will take over a large cable operator that has been aggressive in entering new markets such as local phone service. ''We've got til Thursday to respond,'' Alchin said. ''That's in accordance with the merger terms we had with MediaOne.'' MediaOne appears to be bucking for the best price that it can get, analysts said. Comcast is expected to huddle with Allen, Microsoft, AOL and others to decide whether to make a competing bid. AOL and Microsoft want to foil AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong's goal of dominating high-speed Internet access over U.C. cable lines, while Allen can add to his already substantial cable assets. AT&T earlier this year bought No. 2 U.S. cable operator Tele- Communications Inc. so that it can provide local telephone service over the cable lines along with traditional pay-TV service and new offerings, such as high-speed Web access. Break-Up Fee Philadelphia-based Comcast would receive $1.5 billion from Englewood, Colorado-based MediaOne if breaks the sale agreement and accepts AT&T's offer. Analyst Brian Adamik, a Yankee Group senior vice president, said it might be best for Comcast to collect the break-up fee. It's unlikely AOL or Microsoft will enter the bidding, though Allen may jump in, he said. ''We're at an important time right now as industry redefinition is taking place with mergers and acquisitions,'' Adamik said. ''The friends and enemies you make today will last for a long time. It's in AOL's best interest not to get on AT&T's bad side.'' Microsoft and AOL declined comment on the acceptance of AT&T's bid by MediaOne. AT&T and MediaOne also declined to comment. Paul Allen wasn't immediately available for comment. -- Greg Wiles ©1999 Bloomberg L.P