The last few months have not been kind to communications conglomerates. The value of AOL Time Warner’s stock recently hit a post-merger low, having fallen about 70 per cent from the beginning of 2000 when the merger was announced. The French media giant Vivendi Universal is quickly catching up (or down) with AOL, its shares having suffered a comparable decline over much the same time period. In Canada, BCE and Quebecor are under extreme financial pressure; their shares are depressed and management do not appear to be happy either. Speculation is rampant that they will have to sell off major assets sooner or later. That is in addition to the $4 billion worth of assets BCE announced it was selling last December.

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