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CEO Out
Charter Communications co-founder and CEO Jerry Kent has resigned and was scheduled to leave the board of directors on Sept. 28. Kent will sell his interest in Charter Investments to board Chairman Paul Allen. Charter Investments holds most of Allens and Kents interest in the St. Louis company.
EarthLink Online
In a big step toward complying with the Federal Trade Commissions conditions of its $147 billion merger, AOL Time Warner has opened its pipes to EarthLink in Columbus, Ohio, and will soon allow its chief rival to ride on its high-speed lines in Syracuse, N.Y. The FTCs merger approval conditions required the company to launch EarthLink service before AOL, and launch two additional Internet providers within 90 days of offering AOL in each market.
Messenger Calls
Deltathree says it is negotiating an agreement with Microsoft to begin delivering Internet telephony service to customers using Microsoft Messenger. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company said its iConnectHere.com consumer division will use Session Initiation Protocol to deliver calls from the PC to any phone number in the world.
Fat Profit For Slim
SBC Communications $5.45-per-share offer for the 42 percent of Prodigy Communications it does not own will give board member Carlos Slim Helu an $80 million bonus. SBCs offer represents a 54 percent premium to the close on the day the deal was announced. Slim Helu, owner of the Mexican telecom Telmex, owns about 75 percent of the shares SBC is buying in the deal, which values Prodigy at about $600 million.