AT&T Doesn't Get Any Respect, The Telecomm Analyst News.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 2000 Analysts keep banging the table for AT&T (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :T), but investors just aren't listening. AT&T's stock has dropped 40% so far in the second quarter closing at $35.06 on June 23, 2000. And, despite recently completing its acquisition of Mediaone Group (NYSE:UMG UMG Universal Music Group UMG Universidad Mariano Gálvez de Guatemala (Mariano Galvez University of Guatemala) UMG Upgraded Metallurgical Grade (silicon) UMG Unlicensed Medical Graduate ), which should cement the company's future as a broadband powerhouse, AT&T's stock just keeps heading south. The company has three choices: It can divest itself of its interest in Time Warner Entertainment, a partnership with Time Warner (NYSE:TWX (TeletypeWriter eXchange Service) A U.S. and Canadian dial-up communications service that became part of Telex. In 1971, the Bell System sold TWX to Western Union. TWX transmitted 5-bit Murray code or 7-bit ASCII code at up to 150 bps. See Telex. ); it could sell Liberty Media (LMGA LMGA Location Managers Guild of America LMGA Louisiana Meat Goat Association LMGA Lower Mainland Geocachers Association ); or it can sell other cable properties that make up 11.8% of cable and satellite subscribers -- about 9.7 million subscribers -- nationwide. But others think that sacrificing Liberty Media to hold onto its interests in Time Warner Entertainment will ultimately prove a better business strategy, especially in light of Time Warner's pending merger with America Online (NYSE:AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. ). Access to Time Warner's cable systems and AOL's Internet traffic might certainly help Excite@Home (Nasdaq:ATHM ATHM Excite@Home (NASDAQ symbol) ATHM Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine ATHM American Textile History Museum (Lowell, MA) ), broadband Internet service provider with a weak stock price, in which AT&T owns a majority stake. The possibility of an alliance with Time Warner/AOL might also prove beneficial for Net2Phone (Nasdaq:NTOP NTOP Nt Option Pack ), in which AT&T recently invested $1.4 billion as part of a consortium. AT&T's image has also suffered from the less-than-stellar run of the much-ballyhooed AT&T Wireless Group (NYSE:AWE) tracking stock. To find out more about AT&T, read the article in Multex.com's The Telecomm Analyst(sm), http://www.telecommanalyst.com/individual/000627sections/150focus.asp Companies profiled: AT&T (NYSE:T) http://www.multexinvestor.com/af003961/tickersearch.asp?ticker=t Mediaone Group (NYSE:UMG) http://www.multexinvestor.com/af003961/tickersearch.asp?ticker=umg Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) http://www.multexinvestor.com/af003961/tickersearch.asp?ticker=twx |
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