Comments on: Battle for MCI: Verizon is Back, MCI likes it

By: Jesse Kopelman

Jesse Kopelman — Tue, 03 May 2005 21:03:17 +0000

Why? For the same reason when I worked for AT&T Wireless and AT&T was buying cable companies, I didn’t like it. Why divert the focus? If VZW is the growth engine, that’s where the attention needs to be. If VZW is generating the cash, why should they like it if that cash goes into resusitating MCI instead of growing VZW? The question I’d e asking myself as a VZW employee at this point is what has Verizon done for me lately? How can it ever be good news that my corporate parent is wasting the money I’m bringing in on overpaying for a has been company? Anyway, how can you say that nothing Verizon does has any effect on VZW and then turn around and say this deal is good for VZW?

By: Charlie Sierra

Charlie Sierra — Mon, 02 May 2005 21:54:37 +0000

Jesse,

Huh? Why?

Nothing that Verizon does has any recourse to VerizonWireless.

In fact this deal (albeit, way overpriced) is very good news for VZW. And that means lots of FREE money for Vodafone.

If VZW ever IPOs, which I suspect is not likely, it would be a monster, but by the same token, allowing public shareholders means you might have to pay a dividend to outsiders, when the whole purpose of VZW is to funnel loads of cash to the mother ship.

So unless you can get a super high IPO premium, it doesn’t make sense.

Well maybe in ~2010.

By: Jesse Kopelman

Jesse Kopelman — Mon, 02 May 2005 21:38:39 +0000

I bet Verizon Wireless is really wishing it had already been spun off by now . . .