Broadcom in Talks To Buy Software Firm SAS (wsj.com) 28
Broadcom is in talks to buy SAS, WSJ reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, in the latest move by the acquisitive technology giant to beef up in enterprise software. From the report: A deal, which would value closely held SAS in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion, could be finalized in the coming weeks assuming the talks don't fall apart, the people said. That number is so-called enterprise value, some of the people said, which typically includes assumed debt and is adjusted for cash on the target's balance sheet. Broadcom has a market value of nearly $200 billion after its shares have risen around 50% over the past year.
Not their core business (Score:2)
That's strange, software platforms are not Broadcom's core business. I tend to think of them as a hardware manufacturer. Buying SAS seems odd. What am I missing?
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Lock in...
SAS is one of those things that could be replaced with a few python packages and some glue, but they sell to idiots who will take another decade to figure that out.
Broadcom loves anything with lock-in.
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Anyone who thinks SAS could be replaced with python and glue has never worked in a major SAS installation.
R is much closer to SAS in both linguistic and performance, and still falls way short of SAS's capabilities.
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You are saying Elmer's wood Glue isn't enough, but Guerrilla wood glue will do the trick? While they are replacing a job that would normally required carved joinery.
A lot of our Big Iron and Enterprise Software and hardware. Is indeed much better than the cheapo consumer level stuff... However truth be told, for most cases you are dealing with something that is too expensive and complex for your actual needs. So you are burning a lot of resources just for the Status of saying you have this expensive produc
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Python analytical and graphing packages continue to mature and I'm less inclined to dismiss it as a statistical/analytical tool as I would have back in say 2010. However, SAS and R are in a whole different league. Unless you plan to write your analytical libraries from scratch, there are all sorts of tasks where Python is not a functional replacement.
As far as R vs. SAS, I can think of specific tasks that are still straightforward only in one or the other, but assuming you know the languages and libraries
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All this mad money the fed is dumping on Wall Street has to keep moving, or it rots like old rice in the warehouse. They cannot spend it fast enough, and the banks don't want it [wsj.com]. So, just buy everything you see, don't ask 'how much'.. Up in their rain forest canopy it is roiling hyperinflation. That's why all these ridiculous "valuations". You can still make money though, so jump in..
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That's strange, software platforms are not Broadcom's core business. I tend to think of them as a hardware manufacturer. Buying SAS seems odd. What am I missing?
They own Symantec.
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That's strange, software platforms are not Broadcom's core business. I tend to think of them as a hardware manufacturer. Buying SAS seems odd. What am I missing?
Broadcom is the fifth largest software company in the world [alltopeverything.com].
That does not bode well (Score:1)
The makers of CA (the worst ticketing software I've ever worked with, and I have used Remedy!) are trying to buy the makers of SAS... Do they think a double negative creates a positive?
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Have you tried ServiceNow? I too have used Remedy and thought it miles ahead of SN. Talk about slow, convoluted, slow, user unfriendly, slow, lacking in basic functionality software. Did I mention how slow ServiceNow is?
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Have you tried ServiceNow? I too have used Remedy and thought it miles ahead of SN. Talk about slow, convoluted, slow, user unfriendly, slow, lacking in basic functionality software. Did I mention how slow ServiceNow is?
The company just moved to SNOW. So far everybody seems to like it better, although there is a learning curve involved. As for me, please ask again later :)
But you're saying there is a definite speed advantage with SNOW, do I understand that correctly? :D
Rent seeking scumbags (Score:1)
Sorry, I have to post anonymously because I have to deal with these jackals at Broadcom. They buy crusty tech to get captive revenue from the hapless companies who have allowed tech debt to accumulate. Then they will jack up licensing and maintenance costs significantly to milk the existing customer base until they clue in and leave. They know many of them will just pony up rather than go through the exercise of refactoring code/processes that have lingered for decades. Rinse. Repeat.
Vote with your fee
SAS Posterchild of IT workers Cult. (Score:4, Insightful)
SAS is an interesting company in terms of HR.
They have Employee housing and basically run a full gated community for its employees. Basically meeting all their needs withing the corporate property.
I am curious what would happen with Broadcom takes over, and sees expenses like Child care, running its own doctors offices, meals and housing for its employees.
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Ah, that answers the question of why they would buy SAS then. It must be pure business lust for a fat carcass to feast on. Strip that thing down to the bones and wring the last dollar out of licensing. Easier than making money on chips.
Re:SAS Posterchild of IT workers Cult. (Score:4, Interesting)
That seems consistent with other broadcom acquisitions. Based on my experience, once acquired by broadcom, a company's product seems to get frozen in time, with minimal investment to vaguely refresh, but no more innovation.
So get SAS, strip down the expenses, watch the exodus of people who only stuck with SAS because of the nice working environment, not care because they still get the revenue from established SAS customers.
Re: SAS Posterchild of IT workers Cult. (Score:3, Interesting)
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I think is is a case that Campus living life style is good for the younger guys who are just out of college. Being in a work campus where many of their life needs are met there, is probably appealing, as it closely represents the college life for them. However I expect you probably have a lot of experience (with a 260k salary even living in an expensive area, is still really good) which you were probably overqualified for SAS, and experience comes with age, and I expect a lot of their community benefits w
Broadcom to split into HW Co. and SW Co. (Score:2)
That will be the headline in the financial press couple of years from now.
And is logical. Is the ebb and flow of bussiness.
A company (any company) can not stay inmutable as the environment changes. So at some point it is advantageous to branch into other business areas, and then the branch grows so much (either orgnicaly like VMware or throug acquisitions like Broadcom's SW arm) that the branch deserves to become its own tree.
Well, they bought Symantec and see how that went (Score:2)
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I’m almost wondering if you work for me (you don’t, because you wouldn’t have mentioned prices in USD then :)), because we had exactly the same issues. Very, very frustrating. Even had worse when they messed up our licenses, but “messy” is the only word I could use to describe it.
Mmmm... Lattice (Score:2)
Lattice C. That brings back memories.
CA/Broadcom (Score:1)
Where good software goes to die.
I've worked with software from multiple companies that have been bought by CA (and now Broadcom). Support gets much worse and costs go up.
Run away!
Get ready to bail (Score:2)
If you’re a SAS shop, get ready to migrate. Because I can tell you that my experience with Broadcom taking over Symantec was horrible, and I won’t be doing business with them again.
Update: SAS not for sale, says Goodnight (Score:2)