THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9407300117
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: The New York Times
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
On the eve of a QVC Inc. board meeting to consider a takeover offer from Comcast Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc., all sides were negotiating furiously. Barry Diller, the chairman of QVC, is seeking an offer higher than the $44 a share that Comcast and TCI have bid for 55 million shares of QVC. An executive close to Diller said Diller was seeking about $46 a share, and both sides appeared close to a deal late Wednesday night. Comcast and TCI had been reluctant to raise their offer because they did not believe they were competing against any other bidders. Lawyers for both sides met Wednesday night in an effort to hammer out a deal. With no bidding war to help push up the price, Diller has been seeking other means of sweetening the offer from Comcast and TCI, the largest shareholders of QVC with a total stake of 35 percent in the company.
If no agreement has been reached before the board meeting, planned for 10:30 a.m. today, Diller is expected to ask the board to consider a stock buyback for as much as $1.2 billion in cash. He is also said to be considering a plan for a cash dividend. Diller had also considered a more complex strategy that was available to him as a result of a shareholder rights agreement between him and Comcast. That agreement would have given Diller the right to buy half the stock in QVC that Comcast buys, at the same price.
KEYWORDS: QVC INC.
by CNB