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Technology Stocks : IFMX - Investment Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gregg who wrote (9482)	2/16/1998 11:56:00 AM
From: Ed Bowes	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 14631

I think IFMX will be double digits again very soon. And I don't mind entertaining the prospect that IFMX might get bought out. Think for a moment: 1.) IFMX is one of the top 3 high-end database makers. For data warehousing, in terms of the world's largest datawarehouse sites, it is only matched by IBM's DB/2. 2.) IFMX has a substantial and loyal customer base. 3.) IFMX only has 152 million shares outstanding. Humor me for a moment. Since Oracle and Microsoft are head-to-head, with Ellision openly declaring last year that his pinnicale goal it to dethrown Microsoft as the #1 independent software maker, MSFT making an offer for IFMX would not suprise me. It give MSFT total coverage of the DB market, high-end to low-end. It would also resemble the WWII strategy that General Patton used against Rommell: "We're going to hold 'em by the nose and kick 'em in the ass!" In essence, while ORCL is unfocused with its NC strategy, MSFT could come in and hold them right there, while swiping Oracle core busniess our from under them (with the purchase and expansion of IFMX). Could you imagine what IFMX's technology combined with MSFT's financial backing could do to Oracle! Humor me one more moment. If MSFT made a stock swap offer for IFMX, it would be a drop in the bucket for MSFT. What's MSFT's current cap val? 190 Billion? Say an offer for IFMX comes in at under 4 billion stock swap. That would put IFMX at 25/share. And that's only 2% of MSFT's market cap. Wouldn't be a bad move on MSFT's part (or an expensive one) to knock out the #2 independent software company, Oracle! Of course, this would all be contingent around the Justice Department giving the OK. When MSFT tried to get Intuit 3 years ago, they blocked that. No, I'm not a fan of MSFT. I'm not a fan of ORCL either. But as this industry consolidates and matures, situations like this become plausable. And I think any IFMX shareholder right now has a lot to look forward to no matter how it plays out! Cheers! Ed.