 said with some exacerbation, "how much more do you want?" "It's not money, Brian," Noski said. "To get my endorsement, you have to promise me that when this is over, if you win, we're not going to read that you won and Mike lost. Call off your PR dogs." After a long pause, Roberts quietly said, "You have my word." Noski and Armstrong recommended that the board accept Com- cast's offer, which was now 26 percent better than its original July 8 proposal despite a $3 per share decline in its stock price. While Com- cast retained its two-tier voting structure, the Roberts family reduced its voting power to 33 percent.2 For seven hours-two hours longer than it had allocated-the board compared all three bids against the possibility of staying independent. Meanwhile, the Robertses moved between Davis Polk's offices and their suite at the St. Regis Hotel. Dick Parsons went about his business at AOL Time Warner's offices near Rockefeller Center. And Cox Communications's negotiators flew up from Atlanta and sat in their corporate jet on the tarmac at Teter- boro airport. One of the Cox executives sent a steady stream of e-mail messages, pleading for crumbs of information, to the Blackberry of one of AT&T's deal makers, who was sitting in on the board meeting. As the December sun began to set, his e-mails became desperate. "It's getting cold out here," he tapped. At around 5 P.M., the board voted to accept Comcast's offer. Arm- strong called the Robertses, who, along with their negotiating team, were just blocks away in Davis Polk's offices. "Are you doing any- thing?" he said. "Come on over." When Armstrong and Brian Roberts had signed the agreements, Armstrong called the Cox executives at Teterboro airport and AOL Time Warner's co-chief operating officer, Dick Parsons, who was still in his office. By 7 P.M., champagne was flowing in the hallways of Wachtell Lipton, and we issued a news re- lease announcing the board's decision. Comcast had won an agreement that would make it a media and communications powerhouse, with 29 