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IBM and Microsoft Interested in IGT?13 June 2001In Monday's "Inside Wall Street" column in Business Week, Gene G. Marcial says that IBM and Microsoft have expressed interest in buying International Game Technology, whose stock has been on a tear. "When International Game Technology (IGT ) was trading in the mid-20s a year ago," Marcial reports, "several would-be suitors tried to entice the world's largest maker of computerized gambling systems into a buyout. But Chairman and CEO Chuck Mathewson was convinced that IGT, which makes such devices as slot machines and video poker games, was worth at least twice the going price. So he ducked the feelers. "The stock has rocketed to 60, giving IGT a market cap of $4.4 billion. With the stock up, Mathewson hasn't put up a For Sale sign, but he's more amenable to a takeover, say insiders. Has he had any nibbles? Mathewson, who turns 73 in June, said: 'We've become too big for the people who were interested when the stock was in the 20s.' "But insiders say IBM and Microsoft have expressed interest. With its new Xbox video-game platform, Microsoft could develop markets via IGT's gaming systems. And IBM could enhance IGT's high-tech, high-cash-flow operations worldwide. As IGT diversifies into other entertainment fields, such as its new video games based on The Price Is Right and Austin Powers, IBM and Microsoft will get drawn to IGT, says an IGT exec. 'Either would be acceptable to Chuck,' he adds. Microsoft declined comment. IBM didn't return calls." |