AT&T Corp looks likely to arrive in the on-line bulletin board and information services business at about the same time as Microsoft arrives with the Microsoft Network. The Wall Street Journal reckons that AT&T has won the bidding to buy Ziff Communications Co’s Interchange Online Network, which has not actually opened for business yet. AT&T is said to be in final talks to pay more than $50m for the unit, beating out General Electric Co Inc and many other contenders. Ziff had invested $50m in Interchange, putting 150 of its employees on the project for over two years. Microsoft has said it will tie launch of the Microsoft Network to availability of Windows95, and the latest delay in the new operating system would give AT&T the opportunity to get in first with the Ziff network if it succeeds in buying it.
