Novell could definitely be a player. As of March 97, Novell owned 15% of Corel. If they still own that much, I assume they are the largest shareholder, next to Cowpland's 10%. This could have other ramifications, like is Novel dumping, since they probably need cash themselves? But another scenario is that they could lead a stockholder's revolt and vote Cowpland out. I remember reports from the last shareholder's meeting indicated that shareholders voted against Cowpland's request for more stock options for employees, and he was not happy. I don't know any of the subtleties of Novell's relationship with Cowpland, so this is just a cursory view, but to me, I would think they would have lost faith by now.
I'm sure MSFT would buy Corel in a minute at the right price (just to put them out of business, and get their market), but the anti-trust issues would prevent that.
Other hi tech companies like DEC and Novell seemed like good buyout prospects in the past, but they were not bought out. However, in both cases the top guy was fired. At DEC, which was once second only to IBM in computer sales, Ken Olsen, who personally started the company and built it to multi-billions was fired by the big shareholders, so it can definitely happen.
Of course we could all be wrong, and Cowpland could pull this out of his hat (to use a nice word), but I would think that by January, if he's still in la-la land, he's gone.
He's got a lot more to lose than me, but I bet I'll miss mine more than he'll miss his.
good luck. |
