Bankruptcy
United Artists Theater Company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The movie theater company will reorganize and attempt to reduce debt and expenses. The company lost $127.3 million in 1999. Revenues totaled $631.4 million for that year, down by 4.7 percent compared to the previous year . United Artists carries about $720 million in debt. Movie theater companies have seen better days. Carmike Cinemas (NYSE: CKE) filed for bankruptcy earlier in the summer, while Loews Cineplex Entertainment (NYSE: LCP) warned last month that its second quarter revenues and earnings will be “considerably lower” than results from last year. Loews also said it expected to default on a bank loan.
Citigroup Acquisition
Financial services company Citigroup (NYSE: C) announced that it is buying lending company Associates First Capital (NYSE: AFS) for about $31.1 billion in stock. The deal will give Citibank control of the largest publicly traded financing company in the United States. Associates First shareholders will get 0.7334 of a share of Citibank for each Associates First share they own. When the deal is done, Associates First shareholders will own about 10 percent of Citibank’s shares.
AOL Merger Problems
According to various reports, the Federal Trade Commission is considering a move to block the landmark merger of online services company America Online (NYSE: AOL) and media conglomerate Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) unless certain concessions are made, most notably the opening up of Time Warner’s cable TV lines to rival broadband service companies. The Wall Street Journal reported that the companies might also face restrictions on their future dealings with telecom company AT&T (NYSE: T), while The Washington Post suggested that AOL may be required to ditch its $1.5 billion investment in digital satellite services company Hughes Electronics (NYSE: GMH)
Worldcom Merger
As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, telecommunications carrier WorldCom Corp. (Nasdaq: WCOM) has reached an agreement to buy Tampa, Florida-based competitive local exchange carrier Intermedia Communications (Nasdaq: ICIX) for $39 per share. The total purchase price works out to $6 billion, consisting of $3 billion in equity and $3 billion in debt and preferred stock.
Buying Intermedia gives WorldCom control over Web-hosting business Digex (Nasdaq: DIGX), which has been for sale since July despite receiving a number of acquisition bids. Intermedia owns 55 percent of Digex and controls a 94 percent voting stake in the company, whose data services will nicely complement WorldCom’s UUNet Internet backbone business. Separate deals involving Digex were proposed by fellow Web-hosting outfits Exodus Communications (Nasdaq: EXDS) and Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GBLX) over the past few months but didn’t pan out, according to the Journal.
Excite@Home's Awkward Growth
Excite@Home's subscriber numbers and estimated growth rate can tell us much about the Internet and broadband, technology adoption, and the consumer's need for speed. But, they don't tell us much about Excite@Home's business. For that, we need to look at how the different business segments interact and shift our focus from "subscribers" to "customers," a broader and more-useful term for a complex asset capable of generating multiple values, including subscriber value and viewer value.
Wireless Tower Business
While few investors may be aware of it, the wireless tower management business has excellent potential. Companies like SpectraSite Holdings are expanding their wireless tower networks and renting capacity on them for high-margin revenue. Nevertheless, costs are high for now, as tower management companies spend heavily to buy and build additional facilities. | 
