Jari Ketola
8 Oct 2000 7:48
Fighting the legal battles might turn out to be impossible for Napster to cope with alone. Indeed, rumors about two ISPs negotiating to purchase Napster's assets.
President of the Atlanta-based ISP EarthLink Inc. Mike McQuary has confirmed that discussions have been held between EarthLink and Napster. McQuary obviously wasn't willing to provide detailed information about the discussions, but stated that they covered "various digital music scenarios."
Napster's CEO Hank Berry has denied that any discussions what so ever with EarthLink have taken place.
"It never happened," Barry said. "We will always maximize value for our shareholders, but Napster is not about to be acquired by anyone. Napster is happy to talk with anyone who has a sincere interest in working with us."
In any case, with all the legal battles Napster is facing buying it would mean taking a big risk. On the other hand Napster has a user base of over 30 million -- a number which to many Internet companies might make the risk worth taking.
Source:
LocalBusiness.com