This article is more than 1 year old
BT and United want £400m for LineOne
You have got to be joking...
Anyone who reackons Freeserve's £1billion-plus price tag is a bit out of their league might want to take a butchers at LineOne. Weekend reports suggest that its owners, United News & Media and BT, could be happy for just £400 million. Rumours about LineOne's sale have been around for donkeys, although neither side will confirm or deny the speculation. Well, not yet, anyhow. But with United clearly flogging anything that isn't nailed down and BT desperate for cash, it seems this one is a dead cert. Snag is, who'd want to buy it?
Talking of United, last week it flogged Express Newspapers for £125 million - and with it, some online titles to boot. The
Guardianreports that its new boss is set to pull the plug on four online titles with the loss of 40 jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise.
Yell has appointed John Davis as financial director of BT's e-commerce and directories business ahead of the e-outfit's float. Davis - previously FD at Yahoo Europe - will oversee BT's plans to float 25 per cent of the company, a move that could raise up to £1 billion for the debt burdened telco.
BT's planned $8 billion bond issue has meet a lukewarm reaction in London. Analysts said that investors knew BT's restructuring plans depended on the equity markets, but fund managers are not convinced about the attractiveness of BT's offer. This could impact the pricing, the analysts said. ®
It gets worse. Go here and you'll find out why.