November 21, 2003 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Cable & Wireless (cw.com) CEO Franceso Caio said on Thursday it was unlikely that the embattled carrier would be able to shed its US Web hosting assets by the end of the year, according to a report published by Dow Jones Business News.
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“Our deadline is the end of the next year,” Caio said Thursday at an investor conference organized by Morgan Stanley. “We would like to do it before then of course, but I don’t think it will be in December.”
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The news comes amid recent reports that had C&W close to a sale of its US hosting assets.
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Cable & Wireless announced in June that it would exist the Web hosting market in the US amid heavy losses. The company said it would seek a buyer for the hosting division, but many observers expected that Cable & Wireless would have difficulty finding one, due in large part to its lengthy data center leases.
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Reports in mid-September said that Cable & Wireless was well into discussions and had reduced a list of potential suitors to two.
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In November, rumors circulated regarding C&W’s impending declaration of bankruptcy. A source close to the discussions said that a sale was imminent and was expected to close by the end of the month. The source did not deny the possibility of bankruptcy, but suggested that should bankruptcy be declared, the process would only be used to shed underutilized office space. The rumors were followed by a report in the Times that said the discussions had collapsed.
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Shortly after the rumors circulated, the company released its results and reported significant progress in its US restructuring efforts.
