Microsoft seen focused on small-scale acquisitions
Reuters | at | by Mike
A recent software industry merger may have whetted Microsoft's appetite for a deal of its own, but analysts said on Tuesday that the software giant was likely to limit itself to snapping up little companies with new technologies. For months, analysts had been speculating that a Microsoft/Rational deal would make sense because Rational's tools are used by developers to write software programs principally for Microsoft's .NET Internet software.
Several days after the deal with IBM was announced, Rational's shares jumped on speculation that cash-rich Microsoft would put in a competing bid. That speculation was fueled in part by Rational's disclosure, in a proxy statement, that it had held discussions with a company described only as "Company A" about "a potential business combination transaction."