Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 26, 1993 TAG: 9310260138
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW YORK - For the first time since it entered the battle for Paramount Communications Inc., QVC Network Inc. came under pressure Monday to boost its uninvited takeover bid.
QVC said it was studying Viacom Inc.'s new $10 billion offer for Paramount, which essentially matched the $80-a-share cash-and-stock bid QVC made more than a month ago.
Viacom raised its offer Sunday and Paramount's board agreed to amend the terms of the two companies' previously announced merger agreement.
Both bids for the entertainment conglomerate now contain about $4.8 billion in cash and the rest in stock. Viacom had offered $1.1 billion in cash initially.
Viacom, which owns the MTV, Showtime and Nickelodeon cable networks, launched the first stage of its new two-phase bid on Monday.
It began with a cash offer of $80 a share for 51 percent of Paramount's shares and plans to follow with an exchange of stock worth about $80 a share for each of the remaining Paramount shares. - Associated Press
\ GM puts pact cost against earnings
DETROIT - Acknowledging its new three-year labor agreement won't be cheap, General Motors Corp. is adding a pretax charge of $950 million to its third-quarter earnings to cover job security pledges made to the United Auto Workers.
Richard Wagoner, GM's chief financial officer, said the charge is needed because the company's productivity has improved more than expected. That means fewer jobs will be available for workers at 24 plants that have closed or are to close by the end of 1996.
In its tentative agreement with the UAW, GM would set aside about $4 billion to guarantee the income of workers laid off over the next three years.
Wagoner told analysts late Monday that GM still expects to break even for the year in its struggling North American automotive business, before interest on debt, taxes and charges for retiree health care benefits. GM has lost $17 billion in the United States, Canada and Mexico since 1990. - Knight-Ridder/Tribune
by CNB