C&W to withdraw from US

Thu Jun 5 15:32:56 UTC 2003

According to media reports, C&W is going to withdraw from U.S. markets. 
No word on the of its Internet operations; the Wall Street Journal says

	C&W declined to say how much the new restructuring plan
	will cost or explain how it plans to withdraw from the U.S.
	because it doesn't want to weaken its negotiating position
	with potential buyers of assets. Although the company has
	£850 million in outstanding property leases in the U.S.,
	Richard Lapthorne, the company's new chairman, said the
	company's net cash of 1£.62 billion means "we know we can
	afford the worst case." Most of C&W's U.S. revenue is
	derived from hosting Web sites for large companies, such
	as Microsoft Corp.

	C&W pushed into the U.S. Web-site hosting market by buying
	Digital Island Inc. of San Francisco and most of the assets
	of Exodus Communications Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., for
	about $1 billion in 2001. But Mr. Caio says C&W's competitors
	have lower costs, and its U.S. operations had an operating
	loss of £255 million on revenue of £512 million in the year
	ended March 31.

		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb (me)
		http://www.wilyhacker.com (2nd edition of "Firewalls" book)