Word: lotuses
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...biggest skeptic was Lotus chairman Jim Manzi, 43, who had spurned an IBM merger offer in January and learned of the takeover attempt in a phone call from Gerstner at 8:25 a.m. last Monday, five minutes before IBM went public. Manzi swiftly hired investment banker Lazard Freres to plot defense tactics and search for a white knight, such as AT&T or Hewlett-Packard, that would rescue Lotus. No savior had appeared by week's end, however, and Manzi seemed resigned to coming to terms with IBM if it would sweeten its offer. Wall Street watchers expected...
...prevails, however, IBM will gain a company that is struggling to hold on to its original niche. The Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet was the first blockbuster for PCs but has since been eclipsed by Microsoft's Excel. Lotus fell behind in spreadsheets and other programs, such as word processing and graphics, by being slow to develop software for Microsoft's Windows operating system, which now runs 90% of the world's desktop computers. Although programs like spreadsheets accounted for two-thirds of Lotus revenues of $971 million last year (Notes and other communications software made up the rest), declining...
Among the big challenges for IBM will be to maintain the allegiance of crucial talent like Ray Ozzie, the creator of Notes, who spent 10 years developing the software. "The downside of IBM is that it takes 42 people to make a decision," says Mitchell Kapor, the founder of Lotus, who now is an adjunct professor at M.I.T. "If that happens, Ray will throw up his hands." Gerstner tries to sound reassuring. "We certainly don't want to suck Lotus into the giant company that IBM is and destroy what makes it so successful and unique," he says. "They...
Gerstner originally resisted making a hostile bid during six months of previous negotiations. "When we found out that Lotus did not want to be acquired, our initial reaction was, well that's that." In the end Gerstner decided that the hostile offer was "in effect the only way we could get it [a merger] started." Such are the challenges of romance when the square falls for someone cool...
...LOTUS EATERS...