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To: Eric Fader who wrote (1184)	5/19/1999 3:24:00 AM
From: Madeleine Harrison	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1530

Eric, since I write Gerstner's lively speeches for him, I tried to give you all a hint that this was on the near horizon in my post at Message 9579044 You can't imagine how disappointing it was that no one picked up on it<g> Did you notice how I had him take a sly swipe at Dell in this crack?: Gerstner, however, appeared cool to the increasingly visible marketing efforts by IBM competitors. He even found it amusing that "one of our competitors" is gunning for the "dot" in the ".com," when they really should be gunning for the whole thing. IBM has a recognition factor of 7-to-1 as an e-business leader over its nearest competitor, he added. I would have inserted a jab at Microsoft in the speech too, but Gerstner said he didn't want to be ejected from Gates' celebrated dinner for leading US companies CEOs in Seattle. It'll be in a forthcoming speech. Or in action. We have ringside seats as they fight over the internet portal turf. And so to bed. -Madly

To: Eric Fader who wrote (1184)	5/19/1999 9:08:00 AM
From: OFW	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1530

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Internet health sites Healtheon <HLTH.O> and the privately held WebMD Inc. are expected to merge in a stock deal that is worth about $5.5 billion and backed by tech heavyweights such as Intel Corp. <INTC.O>, Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> and Excite <XCIT.O>, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The idea behind the merger is to build a dominant Web-based healthcare site that connects doctors and patients, as well as a launch pad for healthcare electronic commerce, the newspaper said. Healtheon's board has given its thumbs up to the merger, and WebMD's board is expected to vote this morning, the newspaper said, quoting sources familiar with the deal. The merger would leave Healtheon and WebMD each owning 50 percent of the newly combined company, the Journal said. The deal is valued at $5.5 billion because that is the market capitalisation of Healtheon, which went public in February, the Journal said. People familiar with the deal say Microsoft, Excite and Intel will invest about $500 million in the new company, the newspaper said. Excite, which is about to be bought by At Home Corp., will invest $20 million to $30 million, while WebMD is expected to buy $60 million in advertising from Excite. Microsoft, already an investor in WebMD, is expected to invest around $200 million dollars, the Journal said. Intel's investment will make a minor contribution, the newspaper said. McKesson HBOC Inc <MCK.N> is expected to be another investor, it said.