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&T　　C.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根據(jù)第三段第三、四句，At Home現(xiàn)有33萬用戶，與Excite的這場交易可以使他獲得(give it access to)Excite公司2 000多萬網(wǎng)上用戶，以及該公司的目錄開發(fā)能力。另一方面，Excite認識到自己已落后于像Yahoo!這樣的公司，想尋找強大的伙伴，在網(wǎng)址管理公司目前的兼并潮中站穩(wěn)腳跟。

　　2、D根據(jù)第二段第六、七句傳聞有幾家公司對Excite感興趣，包括Yahoo!和Microsoft公司，但根據(jù)報道，本周末Yahoo!和Excite的談判最終以失敗告終。

　　TCI 是 Telecommunications Inc.的縮寫。

　　AT&T是American Telephone and Telegraph Co.(美國電話電報公司)的縮寫。

　　AOL是America Online Inc.的縮寫。

　　3、C根據(jù)第二段第一句，At Home是TCU、Cox Communications和其他幾家投資者組建的公司。第二句又提到，TCI正在準備與AT&T合并，買賣達390億美元，預期今春完成聯(lián)手。所以，第一段最后一句、第二段第三句都提到了AT&T對這場交易的反應。根據(jù)第三段第二句，At Home Networks是購買Excite后打算組建的新公司的名稱。

　　4、A第二段第五句提到，Excite已落后于像Yahoo!這樣的網(wǎng)絡公司，所以正在尋找一個更強大的合作伙伴;第三段第一句提到，因為Excite急于想擴大自己的買賣，擴展自己的市場能力，很熱衷于同AT&T和TCI的聯(lián)合。

　　5、D第三段Michael Harris評價說，在過去一年中，At Home的股份上升了近300%，因此，它有足夠的實力成效。按At Home現(xiàn)有的股票估價(stock valuation)，它沒有做更多的類似交易實在令人費解，他們肯定積累了足夠的資金(warchest指為競選等目的而籌措的資金)�？梢姡琀arris先生認為At Home不僅應該做這次買賣還應該做更多的諸如此類的買賣。