Frickin' Mergers

Why are there all of these bloody useless mergers from already lame customer-service based corporations trying to merge with other lame customer-service companies? Improve your relations with customers now! Stop merging into crummy monopoly services! Improve the service! PLEASE!

Time Warner/Comcast to Adelphia
Time Warner and cable TV operator Comcast are set to pay $18 billion for bankrupt cable operator Adelphia Communications. The tentative deal, in cash and stock warrants, appears to beat off a potential rival bid by cable firm Cablevision Systems, which a separate source has said was preparing a $16.5 billion cash bid for Adelphia." Taken from Slashdot

Verizon & Qwest battle for MCI
Verizon Communication Inc. (originally formed in the GTE merger will Bell Atlantic), in an effort to regain the edge in its two-month struggle, is buying Carlos Slim's 13 percent stake in the company. The buyout dashes the hopes of Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc., which was considering a hostile takeover of MCI after the company's board turned down three acquisition offers. Slim agreed to sell his MCI shares to New York-based Verizon for roughly $1.1 billion. Verizon also agreed to pay the Mexican billionaire a bonus after one year, leading some shareholders to complain that Slim received favorable treatment. Under the deal, Slim will receive 20 percent more than other MCI shareholders. Excerpt taken from Denver Business Journal.

Chevron/Texaco to Unocal
An $18 billion stock-and-cash deal will add Unocal to Chevron Texaco's holdings, said Andrew Ross Sorkin and Christine Hauser in the New York Times. The takeover, subject to shareholder and regulator approval, “represents the biggest acquisition in the industry since the consolidation wave of the late 1990s.” The Chevron Texaco-Unocal deal would unite the No. 2 and No. 8 US oil companies, and comes at a time when energy giants are “flush with cash but short of fresh opportunities to develop new fields.” Taken from "The Week," April 8, 2005, Vol 5, Iss 202, pp. 8.
Analysts said its reserves (Chevron/Texaco), the petroleum it can count on producing in the future, were weak in comparison with those of other major players. "In one fell swoop, they reversed that trend," said Lysle Brinker, senior vice president of oil research firm John Herold. "What Unocal brings to the table is a lot of U.S. reserves and areas in Asia where the outlook for growth is quite favorable." "Unocal is a unique independent with major assets that are an excellent fit with our existing portfolio," ChevronTexaco Chief Executive David O'Reilly said. The company is planning to sell assets and lay off workers, though it gave no details about the sales and job cuts. Taken from the Seattle Times, April 5, 2005, C1-2.

Adobe buys Macromedia
A $3.4 billion stock deal will unite two software giants. Adobe makes the document-sharing program Acrobat, while Macromedia creates Web and multimedia products like Flash and Dreamweaver.
The Week, April 29, 2005, Vol. 5, Iss. 205, pp. 34