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To: Vendit™ who wrote (17256)	5/15/1999 2:57:00 PM
From: Aljorma	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 41369

Vendit.... Is this the Bertelsmann thats partner's with AOL Europe? Aljorma Microsoft, Bertelsmann eye Telekom cable unit-report FRANKFURT, May 15 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) and media giant Bertelsmann AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BTGGga.F) are considering whether to jointly acquire the cable network of Deutsche Telekom AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: DTEG.F) along with Deutsche Bank AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: DBKG.F) and other firms, Der Spiegel said. The magazine, in the summary of an article to appear in its next edition, said Bertelsmann was mulling a price of nine billion to 10 billion marks compared to 30 billion marks as envisioned by Deutsche Telekom. A member of Telekom's management board told Spiegel that Telekom Chief Executive Ron Sommer planned a strategic alliance with an unnamed U.S. telecoms firm in which the cable television unit would be bundled. ''Considering the prices which have been paid for cable networks up until now, that would not lack appeal,'' Spiegel quoted a member of Telekom's management board as saying, giving no name. Neither Telekom nor Bertelsmann spokesmen would comment on the report. Earlier this year Deutsche Bank said it would only buy Deutsche Telekom's cable television unit as a temporary investor and did not want to become the full-time operator of the nationwide network, the world's largest with around 17 million subscribers. On Wednesday Telekom declined to comment on a report in weekly Die Zeit that Microsoft had set aside $1 billion to invest in the German phone company, which plans to merge with Telecome Italia SpA . Die Zeit said that if Microsoft did not invest the money in Deutsche Telekom directly, it might invest in the cable television network. Telekom has been told by competition authorities it must sell off the network, which could be used by a rival operator to provide a national telephone service in Germany.