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Technology Stocks : CNET: The Computer Network (NASDAQ:CNET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Apache Indian who wrote (883)	5/14/1999 12:50:00 AM
From: B. A. Marlow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1133

Hey Apache, gimme a break! The beauty of the NBCi deal is that CNET gave nothing away. GE needed a Net currency, so it "bought" XMCM with its stake in Snap. That's "funny money" at its finest and right out of Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer." Only other actionable way this deal could have been done would have been to take out CNET for say, $6.5B+ in cash (in the long run, a smarter play for GE?). That's "real money" at its finest. Now, CNET has a 13 percent ownership interest in NBCi. A terrific deal for CNET as Snap was 1) never the main event, 2) didn't have enough "legs" for a quick, Big Money IPO, and 3) wasn't going anywhere without additional assets (which wouldn't have come from CNET in any event). My favorite part of the deal is that NBCI shareholders will receive 10 percent of "the 'New' CNBC.com." That's "vaporware" at its finest! In baseball, don't we call that..."a player to be named later?!" Don't think anyone on this board would rather own XMCM ==> NBCI than CNET. Any contrarians? As far as I'm concerned, NBCi has to prove itself (and has to make more acquisitions). CNET's already a manifest winner. The question is, will NBC want to raise its 4.9 percent stake in CNET or let someone else in? If it proposes to buy CNET with the stock of NBCI, it's gonna need to throw in a pile of "GE Capital" to get our attention. For a few laughs, read "Red Herring's" take on the deal: redherring.com BAM P.S. Long CNET.