Word: mergers
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Cultural differences between the two companies also aroused a measure of distrust. After the merger agreement in October, Malone presented Bell Atlantic with a list of 23 questions about its management and policymaking methods. Would, for example, the phone company consider cutting its dividend in order to plow more money into capital investment? Bell Atlantic wouldn't hear of it; like other big utilities, the firm considers large and steady dividends to be an important feature of its stock. Smith had at least 40 questions of his own. Could TCI deal with the intense level of regulatory scrutiny that Bell...
Despite the troubles, the two sides were close to bridging their differences shortly before the deal blew up. "I talked to John as late as Monday night," says John Hendricks, chairman of Discovery Communications, which operates the Discovery Channel and Learning Channel. "At that point the merger was on. There was some relief in his voice that they had finally arrived at a deal." The broken alliance may indeed slow the construction of a nationwide information system, but very few experts expect that it will stop it. Other cable firms and telephone companies continue to move forward with combined ventures...
Still, the rollback of cable rates could slow the growth of cable companies and make them less attractive as merger partners. Falcon Cable TV, a Los Angeles-based company with 1.1 million cable subscribers, last week halted plans for a $125 million public offering in the wake of the FCC order. Falcon , had planned to use the funds to replace 2,300 miles of conventional wire with fiber-optic cable that could double its current 40-channel capacity. "The uncertainty caused by the FCC is like an apartment owner suddenly having rent control imposed," says Falcon chairman Marc Nathanson...
...either company's ardor for future consolidations. They are still talking about possible cooperative ventures between them, and each firm is already eyeing prospective new partners. "There's plenty of adrenaline pumping here," Smith says. "We are a company on the prowl." So is TCI. No sooner had the merger collapsed than rumors began flying of a joint expedition by Malone and Barry Diller, who had only just lost his five-month fight for Paramount Communications, to find themselves a Hollywood studio...
...vigorous negotiation seemed more than a cover for inaction. Bosnian Croats and the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government were showing renewed interest in working together, despite brutal fighting in the year since their anti-Serb alliance split apart. Bosnian Croat forces had sought to carve out a ministate for eventual merger into a Greater Croatia, but Muslim forces were gaining the upper hand. Unlike a string of previous failed cease-fires, the truce struck last week led swiftly to the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers along confrontation lines and the withdrawal of artillery and mortars to a distance of six miles...