BIG DEAL; MICROSOFT TO INVEST IN COMCAST.Byline: Mark Landler Mark Aurel Landler (born October 26, 1965 in Stuttgart, Germany[1]) is an American journalist who has been the European economic correspondent of The New York Times, based in Frankfurt, Germany, since July 2002[2]. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Sometimes landmark deals grow out of exhaustive strategizing and delicate negotiating. Other times, it is the luck of the seating chart. One evening six weeks ago, Brian Roberts For the CEO of Comcast, see . Brian Michael Roberts (born October 9, 1977 in Durham, North Carolina), nicknamed B-Rob, is a switch hitting second baseman who plays for the Baltimore Orioles in the MLB. , the president of Comcast, found himself next to Bill Gates (person) Bill Gates - William Henry Gates III, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen. In 1994 Gates is a billionaire, worth $9.35b and Microsoft is worth about $27b. , the billionaire chairman of Microsoft, at a dinner in a Seattle restaurant. When Gates grumbled to Roberts about how slowly cable TV companies were upgrading their networks to carry Internet traffic Internet traffic is the flow of data around the Internet. It includes web traffic, which is the amount of that data that is related to the World Wide Web, along with the traffic from other major uses of the Internet, such as electronic mail and peer-to-peer networks. , Roberts responded with a chuckle, saying, ``Why don't you buy 5 percent of the cable industry?'' A few days later, one of Gates' lieutenants called Roberts to take him up on his suggestion. And Monday, Microsoft Corp. announced it would invest $1 billion for an 11.5 percent stake in Comcast Corp., the nation's fourth-largest cable operator, with 4.3 million subscribers. In an era of $20 billion media and telecommunications deals, Microsoft's investment may not seem like that big a bet. But the mere fact that the nation's pre-eminent software developer has backed a family-controlled cable company speaks volumes about the shifting landscape in communications. Several years ago, when a pending mega-merger between Bell Atlantic and the cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. had the communications industry communications industry, broadly defined, the business of conveying information. Although communication by means of symbols and gestures dates to the beginning of human history, the term generally refers to mass communications. spinning dreams of ``interactive'' TV networks, Comcast was listening to buyout proposals from other phone companies that were seeking a springboard into television. But those dreams, and the Bell Atlantic-TCI merger, crashed to earth as it became apparent what such networks would cost to build. Today, having clung stubbornly to its independence, Comcast will become a seedbed for Gates to test his vision of a converging world - not of telephone and cable networks, but of television sets and PCs. ``By biding bide v. bid·ed or bode , bid·ed, bid·ing, bides v.intr. 1. To remain in a condition or state. 2. a. To wait; tarry. b. our time and not selling out to a phone company, we made the right decision,'' said Ralph Roberts, the 77-year-old chairman of Comcast and the father of Brian Roberts. Roberts did not say exactly how fast Comcast would accelerate its timetable. Comcast's shares jumped $3.1875, to a 52-week high of $21.4375, on news of the deal, while Microsoft rose $1.1875, to $125.25. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) Bill Gates, left, and Brian Roberts are joining forces. Associated Press |
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