March 31, 2009
Somebody is spreading Teradata acquisition rumors again
An mass email from Tom Coffing was forwarded to me today that starts:
I have heard from reliable sources that both HP and SAP have purchased more than 5% of Teradata stock. My sources tell me that both companies appear to be positioning themselves for a bid.
I got my version of the same email from Coffing yesterday with a different introduction but otherwise the same substance (he’s pushing a new product of his). It also had a different From address.
Possible explanations include but are not limited to:
- Coffing knows something (seems unlikely, but I haven’t actually checked www.sec.gov to confirm or disconfirm)
- Coffing thinks he knows something
- Coffing just made this up (I hope not)
- There’s an April Fool’s Day prank going on (not by me — after my bizarre March, I’m recusing myself from April Fool’s pranks this year)
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4 Responses to “Somebody is spreading Teradata acquisition rumors again”
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Now I’m not taking sides because I like them both, but you realize that Coffing and Teradata had a pretty bitter breakup, no?
-NR
Actually, no. Coffing’s is a name I’ve hears a few times, but I’m not as up on the details as some other folks seem to be.
However, I’ve heard the same thing offline from yet another distinguished analyst. 😉
HP would seem to be a natural fit. After all, they’ve been trying to replicate with Neoview what Teradata has already achieved. That said, the Oracle relationship would immediately become problematic.
The chances are very low that this is for real.
And given HP’s reorg that somewhat diminishes the importance of data warehouse DBMS/product appliance success, this would be particularly odd timing.
The SAP rumor has always seemed nonsensical, as per http://www.dbms2.com/2008/10/11/patrick-walravens-sap-teradata/