C&W In Spotlight

Lost in the flurry of headlines about a possible takeover bid for Cable & Wireless was renewed speculation about the fate of the company's US operations. The management changes at C&W and confusion about the interest of Hong Kong's PCCW have dominated the media coverage in recent weeks. But a story Sunday in The Guardian raised the prospect that the company's chairman has decided to revisit the November restructuring of the C&W Global unit.

According to the Guardian story, C&W's new chairman Richard Lapthorne is exploring the dismantling of C&W Global. "It is clear that he has already thrown out the reorganization plan that the board agreed at the end of last year," one analyst told the paper.

If you work for or with Cable & Wireless, you're probably used to reading worrisome rumors in the British financial press. Much of the speculation in the UK papers prior to the November retrenchment proved to be exagerrated. Not that those cuts weren't painful - the company decided to close 12 US data centers acquired from Exodus, and lay off 12,500 workers - but early reports had C&W exiting the US altogether.

Now those rumors are back, along with all the other rumors about potential bidders and potential CEOs. Stirred together, it's an interesting mix. Just take it with a grain of salt.