Carrie
04-18-2005, 11:06 PM
Business week online (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2005/tc20050419_4948_tc024.htm)
APRIL 19, 2005
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Sarah Lacy
Software producers Adobe and Macromedia are a good fit, but it's the latter's strides in the mobile market that may have sparked the deal.
The only surprise about the Apr.18 announcement that Silicon Valley software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE ) plans to buy Macromedia (MACR ) for $3.4 billion in stock was how long it took to happen.
Rumors of an Adobe-Macromedia deal have been circulating for the better part of this decade because analysts always thought the two graphic-design software specialists could make a powerful combination to take on the likes of Microsoft (MSFT ) and just about anyone else who ventured onto their creative turf. "In 10 years of software research this is probably the easiest deal I've ever seen in terms of explaining why it's going on," says Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray.
STICKER SHOCK. The two businesses have the same goal: Break out of their successful little niches, sell publishing software to bigger companies, and duplicate their enviable success on the desktop computer in the growing market for so-called smart phones and other wireless devices.
Full story (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2005/tc20050419_4948_tc024.htm)
APRIL 19, 2005
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Sarah Lacy
Software producers Adobe and Macromedia are a good fit, but it's the latter's strides in the mobile market that may have sparked the deal.
The only surprise about the Apr.18 announcement that Silicon Valley software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE ) plans to buy Macromedia (MACR ) for $3.4 billion in stock was how long it took to happen.
Rumors of an Adobe-Macromedia deal have been circulating for the better part of this decade because analysts always thought the two graphic-design software specialists could make a powerful combination to take on the likes of Microsoft (MSFT ) and just about anyone else who ventured onto their creative turf. "In 10 years of software research this is probably the easiest deal I've ever seen in terms of explaining why it's going on," says Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray.
STICKER SHOCK. The two businesses have the same goal: Break out of their successful little niches, sell publishing software to bigger companies, and duplicate their enviable success on the desktop computer in the growing market for so-called smart phones and other wireless devices.
Full story (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2005/tc20050419_4948_tc024.htm)