“…the whole thing started sinking in March, when Corel
released its quarterly financials, with a loss of $12.4 million, or
19 cents a share, on sales of $44.1 million, along with warnings of
probable losses over the next two quarters. Then, in a later
securities filing, Corel said it would face a cash shortage in the
next three months if the merger didn’t proceed or if other sources
of financing didn’t appear. In that same month, Robert Coates,
chief executive of investment company Management Insights, resigned
from the Inprise/Borland board in protest over the merger.”
“…in a conversation this afternoon, Dale Fuller,
Inprise/Borland interim president and CEO, was frank about the
matter. “The thing turned into a boat anchor, and we’re glad it’s
over and we can move on,” Fuller said. Asked what killed a
promising merger, Fuller replied, “I see three things that put the
nails in the coffin for this deal. First, Corel missed their
first-quarter numbers dramatically. Second, they announced that
their next two quarters would be similar, which only made the
problem worse. Third, they announced that they would be out of
money in three months. And we saw no plan to do anything about it,
except ride the wave down. Credibility and confidence derive from
planning and execution. We weren’t seeing that, and the
stockholders weren’t seeing that.” The decision to call the deal
off, however, was “a completely mutual decision,” he added.”
“Fuller still has kind words for Corel. “I think their products
are very good, and the strategy of combining their products with
ours was very good; but I think that strategy can go forward with
all the other players anyway. We have a number of other players who
want to work with us.”