BEA Systems Inc. plans to buy Plumtree Software Inc. for about $200 million in cash. BEA sells the WebLogic application server and other middleware. Plumtree makes software for building portals.
Web-portal projects influence 65% of BEA's application server sales, CEO Alfred Chuang said in a conference call with analysts last week. Adding Plumtree's portal software to BEA's portfolio will help app server sales grow by allowing BEA to reach a new audience of nontechnical business users, he said. The two companies' products use common technical standards such as Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Web services.
BEA earned $131.1 million on sales of $1.08 billion for the fiscal year ended in January. Plumtree, which sells to about 700 customers, including Airbus, Ford, Starbucks, and the U.S. Navy, lost $9.6 million on sales of $84.1 million last year. Most of Plumtree's 400 employees are expected to join BEA.
We welcome your comments on this topic on our social media channels, or
[contact us directly] with questions about the site.
More Insights
Tweet This