The Other Telecom Bidding War

David M. Ewalt, 04.19.05, Forbes.com

NEW YORK - The takeover war over MCI may have dominated headlines the past few weeks, as Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications locked horns over the company. But in the background, an equally fierce battle is raging over Adelphia Communications, which could radically alter the marketplace, setting up one of the biggest competitors in the telecommunications industry.

If nothing else, it's going to be a bigger deal. On April 19, Cablevision, the sixth-largest cable operator, reportedly raised its bid for Adelphia, to $17.1 billion, improving on a $16.5 billion bid it sneaked into the bidding process last month. Its main competitor, a joint bid between Comcast Cable and Time Warner, has dominated the bidding since Adelphia went up for sale a year ago. Their latest offer is reportedly worth $17.6 billion, but offers less in cash, and more in what could be volatile stock.

In contrast, Verizon's latest bid for MCI, at $7.5 billion, is worth a fraction of what is being offered for Adelphia.

Eric Friedebach /An Apollo Sandwich from Corky & Lenny's/

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If I am not mistaken, there is that one stockholder, Slim (somebody) in Mexico who owns 13 percent of the company, and the purchasers of MCI tried to (or were successful at) cutting a different deal with him than with the other stockholders. I thought that was illegal ... whatever was offered to one stockholder had to be the same for _all_ stockholders; and the other stockholders have been complaining mightily about Slim getting better terms. Does anyone know more about this? PAT]