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Novell Rejects "Inadequate" $2B Takeover Bid

Posted by timothy on from the come-back-with-a-real-offer dept.

alphadogg writes "Novell's CEO wrote to customers Saturday telling them that the software company has rejected a $2 billion bid by hedge fund Elliott Associates to take it private. He called the offer 'inadequate' and said Novell will review alternatives. Novell has struggled financially even as it has reinvented itself from its NetWare network operating roots into an open source (SUSE and Ximian) and management and security software company. Revenue fell 10% during its most recent fiscal year (wrapped up in October) and its net losses widened. CEO Hovsepian's total compensation fell 17% to $5.7 million."

3 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Somewhere... by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Informative

    Holy crap! they offered 2 billion to buy us out? We're not even worth half that!

    ... almost a billion in cash in the bank and no debt. They're worth more than 2 billion.

  2. Companies like this... by Yaa+101 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Companies like this is exactly what Elliot et al. wants, liquidize and suck out the billion dollars and throw away the empty shell and all the workers, these hedge funds are the scum of this earth

  3. Re:Somewhere... by gordguide · · Score: 5, Informative

    Liabilities are not debt.

    They are the short term costs of doing business, and will be reflected in next year's financial statements as being fully paid out of operating revenue.

    Debt is simply that ... money you borrowed and will have to pay back some day.

    Examples of liabilities are ... employee wages, rents, utilities, paying the contractor who painted your office building, invoices for product delivered (last week) but not yet paid for (once every 30 days, etc), etc. Another (Big) example is shareholder's equity. That is money you technically owe, but never have to pay; if the stock goes to zero there is no payment required to cover that.

    It's ongoing business accounting, with the payment coming out of your ongoing sales.