VMware (now that they've IPO'ed) is Worth More than Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP Combined
This one I just got off the Redmond Magazine newswire:
Investors are flocking to VMware too. The Palo Alto-based company's initial public offering raised $1.1 billion, the most a high-tech company has pulled in since Internet search leader Google Inc. went public three years ago.
VMware's stockholders have enjoyed the ride as shares have nearly tripled from their initial price of $29. The stock hit a new high of $82.75 Tuesday before finishing the regular trading session at $76.65.With a market value approaching $30 billion, VMware already is worth more than all but three publicly traded software makers -- Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and SAP AG.
In January 2004, VMware was valued at $602 million -- the price EMC Corp. paid for it then. Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC still holds an 87 percent stake in the company.
More after the jump...
Those benefits are expected to spur one of corporate America's biggest spending sprees on technology since the dot-com boom ended in 2000. Research firm IDC estimates spending on virtualization software and supporting services will swell to more than $15 billion worldwide in 2011, up from $6.5 billion last year. Billions more will likely be spent on compatible equipment.
"Virtualization has reached a tipping point," Hector Ruiz, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s chief executive officer, said during a speech at the conference Tuesday.Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett agreed. "We are about to see a big shift in information technology. It's like the light bulbs are going off in everyone's heads all at once."
Computer chip maker AMD is angling for a piece of the action, along with a long list of technology bellwethers, including Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Dell Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.
None appears better positioned than VMware, which was founded in 1998 by a group that included entrepreneur Diane Greene and her husband, Stanford University associate professor Mendel Rosenblum. Greene remains VMware's chief executive and Rosenblum serves as chief technical officer.
Analysts predict VMware will earn $235 million on revenue of $1.27 billion this year, up from a profit of $86 million on revenue of $704 million last year. The company's growth prompted both Intel and Cisco to buy small stakes in VMware before the IPO.
Read the whole article at:
http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?editorialsid=9030
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