please tell me this is just B.S. ifmx/orcl
Bloomberg News: Oracle CEO Considers Buying Informix
This is the story on Bloomberg News Wire:
Los Angeles, Sept, 25 (Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Larry
Ellison said Oracle would consider buying rival software maker Informix Corp. if the
price were right.
"It would have to be very cheap," Ellison told the Bloomber Forum. "It would be purely
if the economics were right, if the price were low enough and no one else wanted it."
He declined to say what the right price would be.
Ellison's comments follow Informix's announcement this week that it's expanding an
audit of its accounting methods, which could wipe $250 million from 1995 and 1996
earnings. Informix, like Oracle, makes software that helps companies catalog and
retrieve large amounts of computer-based information. Ellison said Informix won't
survive as an independent company.
"There's no way they can survive this crisis," making the company ripe for a takeover
bid, he said.
Informix called Ellison's comments speculation and said it was confident about its
future.
"It is ultimately our customers and partners who decide who wins in the
marketplace," Informix said in statement.
Informix's shares are down 67 percent this year. The shares today rose 1/4 to 6 17/32
in trading of 5.39 million. giving the Menlo Park, California-based company a market
value of $986.2 million. Oracle, in contrast had $1.33 billion in cash and short-term
investments at the end of its fiscal year on May 31.
Informix declined comment on whether Oracle has approached it about an
acquisition. |
