OK, so after inadverdently noticing that the BCE buyers’ consortium includes Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, I was poking around trying to find out when I could have known this had I been paying attention. And, of course, I logged onto www.bce.com first, rather than www.bce.ca
The former site now features a placeholder page supplied by the auctioneer (it sold last month for USD 28,001), so I did a WHOIS search:
Registrant:
Yusuf Okhai
Dunsinane Industrial Estate
Dundee, Tayside DD2 3QF
GB
Mr. Okhai is apparently trying to sell the domain; it is claimed that “BCE” stands for “Better College Education”.
I was convinced that the price of USD 28,001 meant that BCE (the company) had bought the site … wrong again! I expect news of expensive litigation to emerge shortly.