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To: kha vu who wrote (8162)	5/20/2001 9:31:44 PM
From: DownSouth	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 10934

NTAP buyout by IBM ??? I have been hearing this speculation for about 2 years from only a couple of people, whose credibility was neither proven nor disproven to me during these months. (I'm am pretty sure those folks are among the sane, though.) It was far-fetched speculation when NTAP was $150/sh. So the speculation is less far-fetched now. It is still speculation, which by tomorrow will be called a "rumor" by the press. I just can't see DW, Sequoia, and the others who own big chunks of this company selling at a price anywhere near where the stock is today. I wonder if JP Vincent, at Red Herring heard the same speculation from related sources that I heard a while back. The difference is that JP is paid to write about this stuff, and we would have laughed at such speculation a few months ago. Now such talk can generate excitement rather than total disbelief. Here is what I believe to be substantiative summary from JP, in that same article: "Merger speculation aside, we continue to believe in the long-term upside potential for the storage sector. In the short term, however, we remain cautious. Despite the recent meltdown in stock prices, multiples remain very high. So until there are signs of significant improvement in earnings, it's hard to justify rushing back into the sector just yet. " As for me, I would not be happy about an NTAP buyout, unless, of course, the price was at a really great premium.