Did EarthLink’s failure to show up for a hearing on Philadelphia’s wireless network this week signal that the city’s network or EarthLink itself is on the block? At least one commentator seems to think so. Bryan Gardiner at Wired.com has an interesting commentary on his blog on Wired.com today–all speculation but nonetheless worth noting.
In it, he reflects on past rumors of an EarthLink aquisition and invites present and former EarthLink employees to comment about anything they hear in the offing.
This sort of item tends to invite rumor mongering but Gardiner’s cufflink analysis of EarthLink’s present position is interesting. He takes special note of EarthLink being noticeable by its absence at Philadelphia’s hearing this week on the future of the network in which the company has partnered with the city. Gardiner asks:
“Could this no-show business really mean the entire Philadelphia network is being offloaded on someone else? Or more interestingly, could it mean that someone may finally be interested in buying Earthlink? ”
What do you think? Click here to read the post.
Of course EarthLink is “looking for a buyer”! – but what is that supposed to mean? That they weren’t before?? There are not too many suitors searching for companies with declining revenues in declining markets. Especially those where the decline seems to have no end (dial-up will eventually go to near zero).
As for the Muni Wi-Fi business, I suspect they’re trying to unload the assets, but it’s much the same as above. If I were a buyer, I would wait it out for a while… the price only goes down in situations like this.
Stuck – that’s where they are. They continue to have the same 2 choices they had before:
1. Cut costs ahead of the decline in their business to stay cashflow+ and wait for some clear growth opportunity to emerge (unlikely). Slow motion death.
2. Place a bet and gamble on growth opportunities, just like they were doing with Helio and Wi-Fi. Only problem is that Rolla clearly doesn’t believe those bets were solid – and he “surrendered”. So, he’ll either revert to #1 (clearly that’s the current situation), or he’ll find where he’s comfortable placing a bet and lay it out there.