CLINTON, Miss.-WorldCom Inc., the nation’s largest wireless reseller, revised the terms of its merger with Intermedia Communications Inc. to settle a lawsuit filed by the minority shareholders of Digex Inc., which is majority-owned by Intermedia.
WorldCom’s merger with Intermedia, which offers broadband data, Internet access, advanced network and voice services and is a competitive local exchange carrier, was an attempt to get a controlling interest in Digex. Digex is a Web hosting company, which WorldCom wanted to flesh out its Web hosting services.
Under the terms of the settlement, Digex stockholders will get about $165 million in WorldCom stock. The merger is now expected to close during the second quarter of this year.
“This agreement helps WorldCom accelerate momentum in its global managed hosting business and is ideally complementary to WorldCom’s range of data, Internet, VPN (virtual private network) and managed networks,” said Bernard J. Ebbers, WorldCom’s president and chief executive officer.
