Bidders vie for Sprint

Telecoms giant Sprint was on the auction block last night in what could result in one of the biggest corporate deals ever. Media reports said the regional telecoms provider BellSouth was making a late hostile bid above the offer from MCI WorldCom, which had been negotiating a friendly merger with Sprint, the third-largest long-distance telecoms group. The New York Times said BellSouth was prepared to top the MCI offer estimated at $93 billion (€87 billion).