High-speed Internet provider At Home Corp. is buying Excite Inc., one of the leading destinations on the World Wide Web, for about $ 6.7 billion in stock in one of the largest Internet company deals. The deal announced today would surpass America Online Inc.’s $ 4.2 billion acquisition of Netscape Communications Corp. last year. Based on closing stock pices Friday, Excite is worth about $ 3.4 billion, which would mean that At Home would be paying a huge premium. The deal could eventually give telecommunications giant AT&T Corp. contol of one of the highly sought after portals that serve as entry points onto the Internet.

At Home is owned by Tele-Communications Inc., Cox Communications and several other investors. TCI is in the process of merging with AT&T Corp. in a $ 39 billion deal that is expected to be completed by spring. AT&T Corp. chief executive Michael Armstrong has stated he wants to use At Home as a conduit for delivering a wide range of communications services, including electronic commerce. Control over Excite, which has a search engine and links to several online shopping sites, would certainly enhance that goal. Excite, which has lagged behind other Website companies, such as Yahoo!, has been looking for a larger partner in the rapidly consolidating Internet portal market, especially in wake of the AOL-Netscape deal. Several other companies had been rumored to be interested in Excite, including Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Negotiations between Yahoo! and Excite broke off this weekend, according to published reports.

Excite, eager to extend its reach and market power, was attracted by an alliance with AT&T and TCI. Excite’s shareholders are expected to own about 30 percent of the combined company, which would be known as At Home Networks. Excite chief executive George Bell would take a position on the new company’s executive board, reporting to At Home chief executive Tom Jermoluk. At Home, which delivers high-speed Internet service over cable TV lines, has more than 330 000 customers. The deal would give it access to Excite’s more than 20 million registered users and to the company’s content development capabilities. Both companies are located in Redwood City, Calif. At Home, whose stock has risen nearly 300 percent over the past year, has the money to make a deal, Michael Harris, president of Kinetic Strategies Inc. told MSNBC."With At Home’s existing stock valuation (of about $11.7 billion), it’s been surprising they haven’t done more deals. They’ve certainly got a huge war chest built up."

Neither company has yet made a profit. In the three months ended Sep. 30, Excite lost $ 6.8 million on revenue of $ 44 million, including acquisition and amortization expenses. In the same period, At Home lost $ 9.7 million.

1.Why does At Home want to buy Excite?

A.Because Tom Jermoluk wants to control his strongest competitor.

B.Because it wants to expand its business through Excite’s present resources.

C.Because both companies are based in Redwood city, California.

D.Because it has lost $ 9.7 million in the last three months.

2.Before the At Home-Excite deal, Excite had attempted a deal with .

A.TCI B.AT&TC.AOL D.Yahoo!

3.How does AT&T fit into the picture of the At Home-Excite deal?

A.Excite has been dealing with AT&T for some time.

B.AT&T and At Home has been running At Home Networks jointly.

C.AT&T is about to ally with TCI, the owner of At Home.

D.AT&T runs Internet, of which Excite is an important user.

4.Excite is eager to join such powerful companies as AT&T and TCI because .

A.it is at a competitive disadvantage in the Internet market

B.it expects to expand its shareholding over AT&T and TCI

C.it wishes to expand its coverage of online shopping sites

D.it is about to go bankrupt and has to sell itself

5.From what he said at the end of the third paragraph, we can conclude that Michael Harris .

A.was surprised at the At Home-Excite deal

B.was not satisfied with the At Home-Excite deal

C.accused At Home of accumulating its wealth from wars

D.considered the At Home-Excite deal desirable to At Home

答案及解析:

1、B根据第三段第三、四句，At Home现有33万用户，与Excite的这场交易可以使他获得(give it access to)Excite公司2 000多万网上用户，以及该公司的目录开发能力。另一方面，Excite认识到自己已落后于像Yahoo!这样的公司，想寻找强大的伙伴，在网址管理公司目前的兼并潮中站稳脚跟。

2、D根据第二段第六、七句传闻有几家公司对Excite感兴趣，包括Yahoo!和Microsoft公司，但根据报道，本周末Yahoo!和Excite的谈判最终以失败告终。

TCI 是 Telecommunications Inc.的缩写。

AT&T是American Telephone and Telegraph Co.(美国电话电报公司)的缩写。

AOL是America Online Inc.的缩写。

3、C根据第二段第一句，At Home是TCU、Cox Communications和其他几家投资者组建的公司。第二句又提到，TCI正在准备与AT&T合并，买卖达390亿美元，预期今春完成联手。所以，第一段最后一句、第二段第三句都提到了AT&T对这场交易的反应。根据第三段第二句，At Home Networks是购买Excite后打算组建的新公司的名称。

4、A第二段第五句提到，Excite已落后于像Yahoo!这样的网络公司，所以正在寻找一个更强大的合作伙伴;第三段第一句提到，因为Excite急于想扩大自己的买卖，扩展自己的市场能力，很热衷于同AT&T和TCI的联合。

5、D第三段Michael Harris评价说，在过去一年中，At Home的股份上升了近300%，因此，它有足够的实力成效。按At Home现有的股票估价(stock valuation)，它没有做更多的类似交易实在令人费解，他们肯定积累了足够的资金(warchest指为竞选等目的而筹措的资金)。可见，Harris先生认为At Home不仅应该做这次买卖还应该做更多的诸如此类的买卖。