51.   Executives close to Vodafone stressed that it would not decide on a final bid price until the meeting.

52.   Executives close to him said he was determined to succeed this time.

53.   Executives close to Hughes say Smith has calculated that the proposed merger of assets would not give Hughes shareholders a premium for their stock.

54.   Executives close to Singapore Telecommunications complained Tuesday that politics played a role in their defeat.

55.   Executives close to Singapore Telecommunications said the company was considering suing HSBC for conflict of interest because its investment banking arm had advised Cable and Wireless HKT.

56.   Executives close to Sinopec said it was well aware of the implications of ties to Sudan.

57.   Executives close to the companies said that MCI Worldcom Inc. has seriously considered a bid for Sprint.

58.   Executives close to the company said late Thursday that GE was unlikely to come back to the table with a new proposal given the timetable.

59.   Executives close to the company said that most of top management still wanted to retain all of Chrysler and that this outcome remained fairly likely.

60.   Executives close to the discussions said that they still hoped for an announcement, possibly as soon as this weekend.