Found another angle on this:
Quote:
“THE British arm of Tiscali, the troubled Italian broadband group, is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs, with up to 40 per cent of the workforce being chopped.
The group, which is borrowing money from SilverPoint, the American hedge fund, at 11 per cent, admitted yesterday that it is in a “consultation period” over job cuts after its tie-up with Homechoice, the video-on-demand player, but it declined to discuss numbers.
Around 800 people work in the combined Tiscali UK and HomeChoice businesses.
The tie-up with HomeChoice, which was announced last month, was seen by analysts as a last-ditch attempt for survival by the Italian broadband player, which has been forced by financial restraints to curtail its pan-European ambitions rapidly. A new push in the UK is expected to form the centrepiece of a new business strategy by Tiscali to be announced by the group next month. By better distinguishing its UK offering, the group, which has 1.3 million broadband customers, hopes to better retain customers and win new ones. It hopes to boost its takings by providing a version of the service on a wholesale level. However, analysts believe that the combination of several fierce, well-resourced competitors and its own financial restraints mean that the plan is misguided.”
Quote:
“Tiscali said that the loan facility — set at an initial Euribor rate, or the European inter-bank borrowing rate, plus 8 percentage points — was dependent on certain conditions, but declined to reveal further details. City sources, however, said that the interest rate would increase if the internet group failed to meet set performance targets.”
Most cheerful angles too!
This so reminds me of what happened with the cable companies earlier this decade, except that they had the infrastructure in the ground to back them up and shore up their value even when the companies themselves weren't worth much.
Here's hoping that someone with more resource takes an interest in the combined company, think the story is spot on when it says that they are fighting companies which are far, far better financed.
Last edited by BBRealist : 25-10-2006 at 16:17
