“Novell’s latest debt offering was oversubscribed, and it was
able to rake in a hefty $600m. But what will Novell do with all of
this money? There are some intriguing options that Novell has as it
takes Linux deeper into the data center and out onto
desktops…“Novell said in the initial offering that it planned to use
$125m of the debt offering–which was technically a 0.5 per cent
convertible senior debenture due in 2024–to acquire 15.2 million
shares of its common stock on Wall Street. Buying up stock is
useful for a lot of reasons: it gives Novell incentives to give
employees and it props up net earnings per share figures…”