CMRC,
Was the news of SAP investment in CMRC posted here?
German Software Giant SAP to Boost
Its Stake in Commerce One to 20%
A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE News Roundup
FRANKFURT --SAP AG moved Friday to bolster its U.S. Internet strategy by raising its stake in troubled business-to-business software maker Commerce One Inc.
SAP, Europe's largest software company, will pay up to 225 million euros ($190 million) to boost its stake in Commerce One to 20%, a move that builds on SAP's current 4% stake in the company.
Can SAP-Commerce One Alliance Stay Strong in Slowing Economy? (April 24)
SAP and Commerce One Have No Plans to Develop Alliance Into a Full Merger (April 24)
The partnership with Commerce One, Pleasanton, Calif., is aimed at sharing software that runs online marketplaces, where manufacturers, retailers and distributors can meet on b-to-b Web sites and sell each other their products and services. SAP will collaborate with Commerce One on designing, selling and marketing the software that makes such sites work.
"Our additional investment in Commerce One is an expression of our forward-looking commitment to this partnership," SAP chairman Hasso Plattner said in a prepared statement Friday.
SAP expects the deal, which also grants it a place on Commerce One's board of directors, to be completed in July or August.
Despite its size, SAP got a late start in rolling out e-commerce software. That allowed smaller companies, such as Commerce One, to snag clients early. But recently, Commerce One has been hurt by a deteriorating market. Shares in the former highflyer, worth $165 a share in December 1999, plunged to under $4 a share this month.
SAP and Commerce One collaborate on software for Internet marketplaces, or trading exchanges. Since September, hundreds of engineers have molded technology from both companies into a single line of products. Their top executives talk almost every week. As of April, the companies had set up about two dozen trading hubs and, in the first quarter, the alliance generated about $34 million for each partner, according to analysts.
SAP is a leading supplier of business-management applications that corporations use to coordinate manufacturing, purchasing and other internal operations. Its customer base of 13,000 companies is fertile ground for selling trading-exchange applications, Commerce One's specialty.
But since reporting a dip in first-quarter profit in April, Commerce One has lost its president to AOL Time Warner Inc., it was hit with a class action lawsuit related to its initial public offering, and it failed in its first attempt to get shareholder approval for reorganization.
-SAP{IBM,ORCL,MSFT,AOL,everyone partnering with SAP}
biz.yahoo.com
-probably has the attention of 10,000,000 cmrc shorts
biz.yahoo.com |
