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Published Report Says
BellSouth and
Long Distance Carrier AT&T Have Called Off Merger Talks
The Wall Street Journal reported BellSouth balked at the prospect of buying the nation's largest long-distance carrier for about $19 billion in cash and stock.
The Journal cites sources as saying that the companies, which have been in sporadic talks about a deal since 2001, had made significant progress in the latest wave of discussions that began over the summer.
The potential deal would have valued AT&T at about $24 a share in cash and stock. That would have been a 20 percent premium to the company's current stock price.
People familiar with the situation say the collapse doesn't completely eliminate the prospect of a deal in the future, but they acknowledge that the chances are far slimmer.
In morning trading, BellSouth was up 58 cents, at $25.91, and AT&T was down 81 cents, at $19.13.