Sarmad, fancy dumping into you here.;) I still own Itwo at an average cost of $10.25 ps... some paid more...some paid less.
Are you still buying broken down stocks?
Happy new year.:)
businessweek.com
>>Jan. 30 -- Software Giant Ariba's Last Big Acquisition
Ariba announced the $2.4 billion acquisition of fellow B2B software maker Agile Systems. Yet after that, the fortunes of Ariba (ARBA ) -- and the rest of the New Economy's business-software set -- headed south fast, shattering the mythology of B2B's promise. It turns out that the software that was supposed to make businesses vastly more efficient by bringing processes to the Web were difficult to install and maintain. And it pinpointed how a tangible return on investment was harder still, making B2B software a tough sell in a bad economy.
On the day of the merger announcement, Ariba's stock closed at $38.50 a share. In late December, it floated in the $5 range. The precipitous decline foreshadowed the fortune of the entire sector, and the Agile Systems deal marked the last major acquisition executed by a New Economy software company. These outfits -- including Ariba, I2 (ITWO ), and BEA Systems (BEAS ) -- were once once touted (by BusinessWeek as well as others) as the new powerhouses of the software business.
Today, B2B software is still alive and kicking, but mostly in the form of incremental improvements on existing legacy systems. And no one is eager anymore to rip out the plumbing to get the New New Thing in business software. Ariba was the king of the sector, but now it's looking to survive or get bought up by someone else. This acquisition was the beginning of the end |
