Microsoft has offered to sell its 23.6 per cent stake in Telewest Communications, the troubled UK cable company, within the next 30 days to a consortium led by Liberty Media, the investment vehicle of John Malone, the US media mogul. The move is the latest of disposals of cable investments by the US software group which in the late 1990s made a number of strategic purchases in an effort to boost the deployment of broadband technology. On May 15, Microsoft withdrew its three non-executive directors from Telewest's board. It has lost about $3bn on its European cable holdings, which included stakes in NTL and UPC.
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