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CA and PLATINUM Merger Finalized
"IT must transform itself to deliver knowledge to grow the business." He went on to explain how the combination of CA and Platinum will accomplish that by developing an "end-to-end information infrastructure."
So said Charles Wang, Computer Associates' CEO at a press conference regarding the recently-completed Computer Associates (CA) acquisition of PLATINUM technologies.
Wang broke down that creation into two important components: intelligent analysis and visualization. "We will help convert vast amounts of data into knowledge using Neugents and neural technologies and PLATINUM’s data warehousing solutions." He added that since a Web user’s experience while visiting a site can spell the success or failure of that site, the newly-combined company will make use of CA’s 3D interface "to clearly convey the knowledge distilled from that data."
"An intelligent infrastructure will deliver results and that’s why we acquired PLATINUM," says Wang. "[PLATINUM data warehousing] products will ride on top of CA’s framework."
Andrew Filipowski, founder and CEO of PLATINUM technologies, added, "It’s a bittersweet event to sell a company that you’ve created, but the combination [of CA and PLATINUM] will develop a product line that will expand into the demands of the e-commerce marketplace. The combination will have all the abilities to dominate in these technologies."
As to the accounting details of the deal, CA made a tender offer for all outstanding shares of PLATINUM’s stock for $29.95 per share in cash. The offer was effective until 12:00 midnight New York time on Thursday, May 27, 1999. Shareholders who did not take advantage of the offer by that time had their PLATINUM shares automatically converted into the right to receive $29.95 in cash from CA for each share. It is the largest transaction ever in the software industry.
CA President and COO Sanjay Kumar said that existing PLATINUM products will be supported "as-is" for several years and that future PLATINUM endeavors will have complete access to CA’s R&D resources. He added that some PLATINUM long-time products will not be re-branded while others may have the moniker "CA" appended on. Kumar added that while there was some 90% redundancy between the administration arms of the two companies, there is approximately 10% in R&D. "Every developer who wanted a position [at CA] was offered one." He added that the combined company should employ over 21,000 people by year-end 1999. Filipowski, while officially terminating his employment at PLATINUM effective May 15,1999, will remain on indefinitely in a consultative position.
Asked to describe the direction of the new company, Kumar said, "We will be very much more involved in real-time e-commerce. You can view us as a software company that’s very outcome driven."