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To: jas cooper who wrote (4543)	5/28/1999 4:38:00 PM
From: SteelerStu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

MCI - Buys SKYT after the bell at 1 for 4 or $21.24

To: jas cooper who wrote (4543)	5/28/1999 6:12:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 11568

MCI WorldCom buys SkyTel for $1.2 billion By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM May 28, 1999, 5:50 p.m. ET MCI WorldCom said today it would buy paging company SkyTel in a deal worth about $1.2 billion. The two companies have been working on a deal for as long as two months, according to some reports. Last week, MCI WorldCom actually registered the Internet domain name "skytelworldcom.com," but later backed away from the Net address after the news became public. Both companies have worked together in the past, with MCI WorldCom the biggest reseller of SkyTel paging services. SkyTel today has about 1.6 paging subscribers, and annual revenue of about $518 million. MCI WorldCom executives painted the acquisition as a new stage in the company's slowly developing wireless strategy. "SkyTel...is ahead of the curve in developing and implementing wireless data applications," said CEO Bernard Ebbers in a statement. "SkyTel also brings a talented management team with a wealth of experience in wireless communications." The company also has made several acquisitions of fixed wireless or wireless cable TV companies in recent months, as part of its drive to reach homes and businesses directly without going though local telephone networks. But analysts said that, while useful, the SkyTel deal would not substitute for a genuine wireless phone division that could help MCI WorldCom compete with AT&T's mobile phone unit or Sprint PCS. "For MCI, it gives them something in the way of wireless, so at least this helps them on the paging side," Julie Rietman, a wireless industry analyst at International Data Corporation, a market research firm. "I think they're still going to need to have an alliance or an acquisition on the cellular/PCS side in order to bundle services effectively." Ebbers has been lukewarm on wireless acquisitions until recently, saying that the company eventually needed a mobile phone component, but not seriously enough to rush into an unprofitable acquisition. Early this month, MCI WorldCom broke off negotiations with Nextel, the last remaining independent national wireless phone operator, after the two couldn't come to an agreement over a merge price. The SkyTel buyout is expected to close within the next six to nine months, the company said. news.com