Boston and Baltimore would sign him in an instant if he abandoned negotiations for a new Oakland contract.

These operations were also designed to keep North Vietnam at the negotiating table and to prevent it from abandoning negotiations and seeking total victory.

This summer, the airline said it was abandoning negotiations and planned to wait until union contracts expired to return to the bargaining table.

Mr. Jobs said he abandoned negotiations, in part, because he could not get along with Mr. Eisner.

"Now is not the time to abandon negotiations," the spokesman said.

Mr. Icahn's disclosure suggested that he had abandoned negotiations with an unidentified partner on joining forces and that each would proceed independently.

Mercedes-Benz and Iveco, the Italian truck company, abandoned negotiations with Tatra last year.

The sale of the newspaper became the only alternative to a shutdown when management of The News and the unions abandoned negotiations on Thursday.

Management and the unions abandoned negotiations last Thursday night, saying they were utterly deadlocked.

They would not abandon negotiations with President Clinton, whom many junior members denounced tonight as untrustworthy.