Steve Castellano. thinks that chances of Qwest winning MCI are remote because “Qwest has too much debt. Verizon will raise its bid, if it has to, and move on. MCI will never pair with a weak partner and see its shareholder value desolve.”

“Qwest has submitted a second proposal to the MCI Board of Directors and it is not likely to win the Board’s favor,” says Allan Tumolillo, COO of Probe Financial Associates, Inc. “The proposal includes a ‘Value Protection Mechanism’ to protect MCI shareholders if Qwest’s stock were to fall below $4.15/share, all the way down to $3.74/share.” He feels that the stock dropping like a stone, MCI board will have to reject the proposal. And in that case Qwest will have to find a buyer for its operations – quick.

Who could be that buyer? Steve suggests some telecom which is not from the United States.