Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

Corel is taking over Inprise/Borland to form what it calls a Linux powerhouse. The Canadian firm is splashing out $2.44 billion of its new-found paper wealth for the privilege. And of course it was The "L" word that made the deal possible. Driving the deal was the recent share price rise on the back of Corel's announcement of a Linux distribution and its WordPerfect suite for Linux. Combined revenues of the two companies, using 1999 data, is $418 million. Inprise/Borland shareholders will own 44 percent of Corel. Cowpland remains as CEO and President, while Dave Fuller, the interim CEO of Inprise, will be Chairman. Corel CEO Michael Cowpland has taken a few risks in his time, the biggest of which was a bold bid for WordPerfect, which he got from Novell at a bargain price, although turning the product around nearly broke Corel's back. Corel and Inprise shares both edged up around 3 per cent on news of the merger. ®

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery