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Monster 收购 ChinaHR ………… Adobe XX了 Macromedia
TheDeal.com
Adobe takes on software giants
Tuesday April 19, 6:00 am ET
By Kate Gibson
Adobe Systems Inc.'s $3.4 billion purchase of online animation software maker Macromedia Inc. puts the company best known for its Acrobat document-sharing software squarely in the ring with Microsoft Corp.
"It's a very logical combination of complementary products that will allow the companies to compete more effectively against Microsoft, IBM [Corp.] and others," said Gordon Davidson, chairman of Fenwick & West LLP, a Mountain View, Calif., law firm that counseled Macromedia on the transaction. "It was a deal that was meant to be."
Under the deal, expected to close in the third quarter, Macromedia shareholders will 0.69 of Adobe shares, worth $41.86 based on the buyer's closing stock price Friday, April 15, $60.66. That is a 25% premium to Macromedia's closing price of $33.45.
Adobe said the all-stock acquisition would help it expand its Web and print product offerings to include audio and video applications, among other benefits. Left unaddressed was the San Jose, Calif., firm's intensifying rivalry with Microsoft, which is expected to offer software to compete against Acrobat in the next version of its Windows operating system, code-named Longhorn, scheduled for release in 2006.
In fact, the deal for Macromedia, viewed as Adobe's biggest rival in making design software tools, left some speculating that the Redmond, Wash., software giant may counter with its own bid. Microsoft has opted against any major deals in the rapidly consolidating business software sector, ceding that turf for now to rivals such as Oracle Corp., which purchased PeopleSoft Inc. and Retek Inc., and Germany's SAP AG. But this time it could choose to step in, one analyst said.
"I never thought Microsoft would go for PeopleSoft; I never thought they would go for Retek. But Macromedia is a different animal," said Jamie Friedman, an analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners LLC.
"Adobe does in the print world what Macromedia does in the motion world," said Friedman, who believes Adobe's offer undervalues Macromedia.
"If Retek is worth $11 [per share], then Macromedia is worth $100."
The marriage of two of the biggest suppliers of software for creating and sending digital content boosted shares of San Francisco-based Macromedia, also known for its Dreamweaver Web-design program, to $36.72, up nearly 10%. Adobe shares fell to $54.77, down 9.7%.
In a call with analysts shortly after the deal was announced, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen said that for years he opposed a large merger because of integration worries. But Adobe's and Macromedia's similar corporate cultures offset those concerns, he said.
"This is not a consolidation play," Chizen said. "It's all about growth."
The prospect of buying a healthy company is far more compelling than trying to "acquire and integrate a company that is broken," he added.
The two companies "have talked off and on for some time," said Davidson, whose ties to Macromedia go back more than 20 years. Once called MacroMind, the company in 1991 became MacroMind-Paracomp before acquiring education courseware company Authorware the next year and changing its name to created MicroMedia.
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2005-04-21 10:19:57
