Interesting question.
I consider a buyout to be unlikely for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, during the period that I worked at PLAT (from
acquisition in March 95 to leaving in November 96), Flip never wavered from his public vision of building one of the 5-10 independent software powerhouses that would be left after inevitable industry consolidation by the year 2000.
Secondly, most acquiring companies would be looking for actual accretive net earnings. Although PLAT's operating earnings have been up impressively, and the revenue increases have been even better, they
are still posting net losses (albeit some of them are non-cash) throughout the last few quarters (one time charges, the last restructuring, and some continuance of the acquistion trend). This
will no doubt continue for a quarter or so as LBMSY is absorbed, and
we find out what the hit was for buying HP's Intelligent Warehouse
product, as well as the Mastering acquistion (MASC). I believe any
acquirer might wait until a clear trend on NET earnings had been established, which would validate that their entire business strategy over the last several years has been correct.
Just my thoughts. Anything can happen these days, however.
Dave |
