AT&T Rejects Comcast Bid for AT&T Broadband

Jul 18 2001

AT&T Corp. said on Wednesday its board unanimously rejected Comcast Corp.'s unsolicited bid to purchase its AT&T Broadband unit, saying the $40 billion stock offer did not reflect the full value of the No. 1 U.S. cable-television company.

Comcast, the No. 3 cable television company, launched an unsolicited bid on July 8 to acquire the larger rival, ATT Broadband. In addition to the price, ATT said it had concerns about the proposed voting structure.

ATT had planned to spin off its cable-television unit as part of a massive reorganization that would split its major businesses -- broadband, business, consumer and wireless -- into three separate companies with four stocks. The wireless business was separated on July 9.

ATT now said it would explore financial and strategic alternatives for ATT Broadband, including its previously announced restructuring plans. It will delay finalizing and mailing to shareowners the proxy materials regarding the ATT Broadband spin-off.

ATT emphasized that it remained committed to separating its consumer and business operations from AT&T Broadband, and creating a separate tracking stock designed to represent the financial performance of ATT Consumer.