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Novell Rejects "Inadequate" $2B Takeover Bid
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."
These days most private equity firms are basically vultures - I offer case in point, Chrysler Corporation. They buy out a firm, gut it, wreck it, and then try and unload a few pieces. Rarely does a private equity firm actually ever improve that which it buys.
This is my sig.
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.
Enterprise services are big business, IBM make $13 billion profit every year selling crappy software that does what people need.
Novell has a huge asset (besides their pile of cash), and that is their customer base. If they can create an attractive way for their customers to move forward, they have strong potential for profitability in the future. All they need to do is figure out what their customers need, stick it in a pretty package, and the sales will basically take care of themselves.
My understanding (from talking to employees at the company) is that Novell is a very bureaucratic company, and it is hard for new ideas to get backing inside the company. If they want to succeed they will need to overcome their inertia and become more nimble. There is no reason they can't do this: if they die, it will be because they got caught in their own tarpit and didn't have the will to change.
Qxe4
Easy money.
T
Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.