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Technology Stocks : AT&T -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bruce Cullen who wrote (2249)	4/30/1999 1:39:00 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 4298

MediaOne Forges New Confidentiality Pacts - Source NEW YORK (Reuters) - MediaOne Group Inc., the cable television company weighing two takeover offers, forged confidentiality pacts with America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) at the request of its original suitor, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news), a source familiar with the situation said Friday. The separate confidentiality agreements would allow AOL and Microsoft examine MediaOne's financial information and could set the stage for the companies to help Comcast sweeten its bid for MediaOne, traders said. The confidentiality agreements are expected to be disclosed Friday, the source said. AOL declined to comment. MediaOne, Microsoft and Comcast could not be immediately reached for comment. Comcast last month agreed to buy MediaOne for about $48.2 billion in stock. That bid was topped last week by AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news)'s surprise $58 billion cash and stock offer. MediaOne earlier this week forged a confidentiality agreement with AT&T, allowing the two companies to negotiate and share financial information without jeopardizing MediaOne's existing agreement with Comcast. Talks between MediaOne and AT&T are ''proceeding,'' and a formal merger agreement could emerge over the weekend, the source said. Analysts said Comcast would be hard pressed to top AT&T's bid on its own. After AT&T launched its bid, Comcast had received expressions of support from Microsoft, the world's leading software company, and AOL, the largest online service provider, as well as investor Paul Allen. MediaOne ''entered into the agreements (with AOL and Microsoft) at the request of Comcast,'' the source said. Microsoft is already a major Comcast shareholder through a $1 billion investment made in 1997. AOL and Microsoft are reportedly interested in assisting Comcast in order to prevent AT&T from becoming a cable behemoth and dwarfing its competitors. AOL, meanwhile, wants to prevent AT&T from controlling too many cable television assets, which are attractive vehicles for high-speed Internet access. Near midday Friday, shares of MediaOne were $2.06 higher at $81.44 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of AT&T fell 69 cents to $52.56, also on the NYSE, while Comcast lost $1.31 to $62.31 on the Nasdaq. chris

To: Bruce Cullen who wrote (2249)	4/30/1999 2:08:00 PM
From: CGarcia	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4298

I used to subscribe to AT&T's internet services, but found it to be very disorganized...Connections were slow, alot of busy signals, they would kick you off after 4 hrs of usage, they kept promising 56k upgrades but never got them to my area...the whole experience just told me AT&T really was more interested in their phone business than the internet...I think AOL and MSFT should be the ones to get Media one, because they have shown expertise in the internet field...highspeed access is beneficial to the internet, but it has practically nothing to offer a telephone company...at least one which never has shown to be very competent in the internet field...Let things be...AT&T keep running the phone lines...AOL and MSFT keep running the internet...besides, everyone knows with the incredible value of MSFT and AOL stock, AT&T's offer for Media One is dead in the water!