EMC: Mum's the word on investing strategy
July 31, 2000
by Stefani Lako Baldwin
#6 EMC (EMC)
Market cap: $186 billion (as of 7/28/00)
Fund name: None. Handled by the investment strategy group.
Kicked off: EMC won't disclose.
Size: EMC won't disclose. According to its most recent 10Q filing with the SEC, the company had $1.3 billion in investment assets on its balance sheet.
Strategy: EMC declined to discuss its VC investing in detail.
The chosen: Each company in EMC's portfolio "represents an innovative direction for the storage and management of information," says a spokesman. The company would not release an investment range.
Driveway.com: An Internet storage provider.
Evoke (EVOK): A Web conferencing provider.
Skydesk (DESK): An Internet storage provider.
X-driver: An Internet storage provider.
FusionOne: Develops software to make information across various platforms seamless.
Click2Send: Provides electronic delivery of large, mission critical documents.
Grabbing it all: Over the past two years, EMC has acquired SymLock, TeraScape, Softworks and Data General.
Street Guide: Bill Lewis, an analyst at Chase H&Q, speculates that EMC's investments in storage companies such as Driveway.com and X-Driver
represent EMC's goal to remain a dominant player in storage. These two firms also have the potential of becoming EMC customers, he adds. Lewis does not take EMC's venture funding into account since, he says, the amount invested is a small percentage of the company's market cap.
As to EMC's refusal to release detailed investment information, Lewis suggests that the company does not want its direct competitors to know what it's up to or EMC may not want to compete with other venture capitalists looking for companies to invest in.
Get out the map: EMC is quiet, but happy. "You're going to see more in the future," says a spokesman.
upside.com |
