THE WIRED INDEX
Want to kill a merger? Just make it contingent on two big-headed CEOs becoming co-CEOs. Biotech giants Monsanto and American Home Products watched as their $35 billion wedding collapsed amid rumors that the former's Robert Shapiro and the latter's John Stafford couldn't decide on how to share power. Monsanto's stock then plunged 27 percent.
Other marriages look more promising: Intel perfectly timed its $185 million acquisition of networking firm Shiva, Cisco shelled out $145 million for Selsius Systems, and Applied Materials came through with an estimated $42 million stock-swap deal for software developer Consilium ... In other news: Microsoft signed a mega $90 million online-advertising deal with credit card giant First USA.
The Wired Index tracks 40 public companies selected by editors of Wired to serve as a bellwether for the new economy. For a complete description and the latest results, see stocks.wired.com/. The Wired Index is not a traded fund or portfolio. Some of the companies in the Wired Index may have an advertising relationship with Wired. Readers who use this information for investment-related decisions do so at their own risk.
NEW MONEY
Beating the Bug
The Street's Incyte
Quote
Software for Fund Junkies
Halloween Excitement
Mergers of Convenience
