BIG FISH | LITTLE FISH | THE FISHING LINE |
Oracle | BEA Systems | Probably not worth the effort. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said Oracle “would benefit from buying [BEA], but not much, and that’s the problem.” |
Oracle | Siebel & i2 | Improbable. In mid-January, Ellison called both “dying companies.” And Siebel just announced the creation of a “poison-pill” defense. |
IBM | MatrixOne | Not likely. The two companies already share a marketing partnership. No upside for IBM in buying the firm outright. |
IBM | Vignette | Despite an overlapping customer base, Vignette’s recent purchase of Epicentric might complicate matters. |
SAP | Aspen | After realizing some efficiencies, SAP could see a return even if it pays double the supply-chain software company’s current market cap. |
PeopleSoft | Agile Software | Insiders note the warm vibes between top executives at the two companies-a merger would be friendly. |
Infosys | i2 | i2 has nearly a half-billion in cash on its books and significant intellectual property. India-based Infosys might pick up i2 in order to make an impact in the States. |
Microsoft | WebEx | Oops. Wrong fish. Redmond is buying rival online conferencer PlaceWare instead. Now WebEx has to wonder if it can continue to go it alone. |
Microsoft | AOL | Not as crazy as it sounds. What’s the only outfit that might pay Time Warner a premium for AOL? |
IBM | Sun | Long rumored. But no action to date. |
Source: AMR Research, Baseline Research |