Metrocall offers buyouts to rivals
In a rare hostile takeover attempt in the paging industry, Metrocall Inc. said yesterday that it had offered $384.3 million to buy USA Mobile Communications Inc. and Premiere Page Inc., two rivals whose boards have agreed to merge.
A combination of the three companies would create the nation's second-largest publicly traded paging company, trailing only Paging Network Inc. of Plano, Texas, with more than 1.5 million subscribers.
Alexandria, Va.-based Metrocall made its unsolicited offer public after trying unsuccessfully in recent weeks to negotiate a merger with USA Mobile, the company said.
A merger of USA Mobile and Premiere is set for voting tomorrow by shareholders at each company.
AT&T; regains lead for Baltimore
With a $25 million offer, AT&T; Corp. retook the lead in the bidding yesterday for the single Baltimore-Washington license in the Federal Communications Commission's auction of radio spectrum for new wireless telephone services.
AT&T;'s third-round bid topped the $15.2 million offered by GTE Macro Communications, an arm of GTE Corp., in the second round. It also eclipsed the $19.7 million offered yesterday by WirelessCo L. P., an alliance of Sprint Corp. and three large cable TV companies. The auction is expected to continue into early next year.
Two shareholders sue Best Buy
Two shareholders have sued Best Buy Co. because of its recent stock price plunge, saying the electronics retailer misled investors about growth prospects.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minn., alleges misleading information artificially inflated Best Buy's stock price.
The company's price dropped $11.25 a share on Dec. 1, closing at $33, after Chief Financial Officer Allen Lenzmeier reported the company expects profits of 40 to 43 cents a share for the third fiscal quarter that ended Nov. 26. Estimates among analysts were 45 to 47 cents a share.
Best Buy spokeswoman Susan Hoff said the suit lacks merit.
L The retailer's stock closed unchanged yesterday, at $31.375.
Manugistics chief officer resigns
Manugistics Group Inc., a Rockville-based software company, said yesterday that Chief Operating Officer Thomas A. Skelton had resigned effective Dec. 31. The company said it will not appoint a successor, and Chief Executive Officer and President William M. Gibson will assume the post.
Mr. Skelton, who became chief operating officer in 1992, said he will join a privately held software company in North Carolina. He will remain on Manugistics' board.
@