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To: Jan Crawley who wrote (56322)	5/11/1999 11:00:00 AM
From: Sarmad Y. Hermiz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164685

Jan, What do you think of today's move in the nuts ? Just riding AOL's coat-tails ? Or something more ?

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (56322)	5/12/1999 8:18:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164685

FOCUS-CWC<CWZ.L> jumps on Microsoft<MSFT.O> talk By Kirstin Ridley LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Shares in British cable market leader Cable & Wireless Communications Plc leapt five percent on Wednesday after a newspaper report that U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp might buy a 30 percent stake. The Wall Street Journal Europe said Microsoft, which is building up a position in two of CWC's rivals, had turned its attention to the biggest of Britain's big three cable operators and was in talks to buy a stake that could fetch $4.0 billion. Citing people close to talks, the paper said Graham Wallace, the chief executive of CWC's main shareholder Cable & Wireless Plc <CW.L>, spoke to Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer Greg Maffei on Tuesday, but that completion of a deal was not imminent. "We're just not commenting," Wallace told a telephone conference call on the parent group's annual results. But he added: "We do continually talk to Microsoft. We've got a joint venture with them in Hong Kong, trialling their software on our broadband network; they want to supply software to us in the UK and Australia. So we continually have contact. "That's the way this business works but that does not mean you should read any more into it than that." Shares in the CWC subsidiary hit a high of 685 pence before settling at 658p, a rise of 30p or 4.8 percent, by 1120 GMT. Analysts predicted last week that Microsoft might seek a deal with CWC after the U.S. group snatched a 29.9 percent stake in Britain's second biggest cable group Telewest Communications Plc <TWT.L>. Microsoft has already taken an effective five percent stake in number three player NTL Inc <NTLI.O>. With Telewest and CWC already in merger talks, some analysts believe Microsoft might broker a marriage between all three cable companies and speed consolidation. In an industry which has sunk billions of pounds into cabling Britain's streets, size matters to cut vast billing and marketing costs. Analysts have long predicted a further shake-out that could leave one cable giant capable of serving 17 million homes and with enough clout to take on Rupert Murdoch-controlled satellite TV giant BSkyB <BSY.L> and British Telecommunications <BT.L>. Britain might just be the first step for Microsoft magnate Bill Gates, who is expected also to buy deeper into mainland Europe to standardise the software of the cable platform and influence investors. Microsoft, which already holds a stake of around eight percent in innovative Netherlands-based cable operator United Pan-Europe Communications <UPCOY.O>, earlier on Wednesday announced a $130 million bid for Swedish mobile telephone and Internet technology company Sendit AB.