MS buy Adobe? =O

[Alan T Litchfield]

meh.

Adobe has long since joined the ranks of the megapublishers, along  
with Microsoft, IBM, et al. I have no emotional tie to their products  
anymore. Perhaps if there is also merger of products we might get  
improved products from them, but I doubt it. There was squirming too  
when Microsoft invested in Apple. I am glad they did, the management  
there was not up to the job (excuse the pun).

Alan

On 8/10/2010, at 10:11 AM, Writer wrote:

> NOOOOOOOO!
>
> *ahem*
>
> I found this article at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Adobe-share-soar-on-rumor-of-apf-4289626386.html?x=0
>
> Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer, On Thursday October 7, 2010,  
> 5:01 pm
>
> NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Adobe soared in heavy trading Thursday on  
> a report that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discussed a possible  
> buyout of the company.
>
> A report posted in the "Bits" blog of The New York Times said  
> Ballmer recently met with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to talk about  
> Apple's control of the cell phone market and how Microsoft and Adobe  
> could work together to fend off the iPhone maker.
>
> It was in this context that a possible buyout of Adobe by Microsoft  
> Corp. came up, according to The Times. Microsoft had no comment.
>
> In a statement, Adobe said it shares "millions of customers around  
> the world" with Microsoft, and "the CEOs of the two companies do  
> meet from time to time. However, we do not publicly comment on the  
> timing or topics of their private meetings."
>
> Adobe Systems Inc., based in San Jose, Calif., makes software such  
> as Photoshop and the Flash technology used for Web videos and games.  
> The company has been in a long-standing feud with Apple Inc. over  
> Flash, which Apple bans from its mobile devices such as the iPad and  
> the iPhone.
>
> An Adobe acquisition would be a huge one for Redmond, Wash.-based  
> Microsoft, whose last big purchase was in 2007, when it bought  
> aQuantive Inc. for $6 billion. A proposed deal to buy Yahoo Inc. the  
> following year fell apart when Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion  
> bid. Adobe's market cap is close to $15 billion.
>
> Gleacher & Co. analyst Yun Kim said a potential buyer would be  
> "great" for Adobe, which is looking to grow its annual revenue to $5  
> billion in the next couple of years. It had revenue of about $3  
> billion last year.
>
> But from Microsoft's point of view, it's unclear what parts of  
> Adobe's business they can use to get themselves ahead in the online  
> advertising market.
>
> Adobe ended the session up nearly 12 percent at $28.69, with trading  
> volume more than six times the average. The stock slid 14 cents to  
> $28.55 in aftermarket trading. Microsoft ended trading up a dime at  
> $24.53.
>