Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, May 28, 1999
MCI agrees to buy paging firm SkyTel
JACKSON, Miss. -- MCI WorldCom Inc. said it will buy paging company SkyTel Communications Inc. for $21.24 a share.MCI WorldCom said it will exchange 0.25 shares for each SkyTel share, or $21.24 each. That's a 4.6 percent premium to today's closing price of $20.31. The deal was announced after the stock market closed today. Based on 60.07 million Skytel shares outstanding as of March 31, the transaction is valued at $1.27 billion. Skytel also has $344.6 million in long-term debt.
MCI WorldCom , the second-largest U.S. long-distance phone company behind AT&T Corp., will get 1.6 million paging customers and a wireless network it can use to offer electronic mail and other data services to its customers. Both MCI and SkyTel are based in Jackson, Miss.
American incomes, spending keep rising
WASHINGTON -- Americans' personal income rose again in April but their spending followed fast on its heels, contributing to an all-time low in the nation's savings rate. Personal income -- which includes wages, interest and government benefits -- rose 0.5 percent last month, the Commerce Department said today. Spending climbed by 0.4 percent.Americans' income has grown every month so far this year. However, spending has also risen steadily, and more quickly. That trend dragged the savings rate -- savings as a percentage of after-tax income -- to a record low of minus 0.7 percent in April.
Pentagon to oppose shipbuilders' deal
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is likely to recommend that the Justice Department oppose Litton Industries Inc.'s proposed $1.8 billion purchase of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc., Defense Secretary William Cohen said today.Cohen said the Navy had made a "preliminary determination" that the Litton bid for Newport News would excessively limit competition in naval shipbuilding. But he said the Navy would not oppose Litton's $500 million offer for Avondale Industries Inc.