(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) has entered into a definitive agreement to launch a public tender offer to buy all of the publicly held registered shares of Day Software (www.day.com) for a total of approximately 255 million Swiss francs (about $240 million at the current exchange rate).
According to Adobe’s Wednesday announcement, Adobe’s acquisition of Day will strengthen the company’s enterprise software solutions with its Web content management, digital asset management and social collaboration offerings. Adobe said that this acquisition will result in solutions that will enable organizations to create, manage, distribute and monetize content, while also optimizing the Web experience for their customers.
“Adobe’s acquisition of Day represents a key milestone in our efforts toward delivering best-in-class customer experience management solutions to enterprises and governments worldwide,” Adobe digital enterprise solutions senior vice president and general manager Rob Tarkoff said in a statement. “With the addition of Day to our enterprise portfolio, we will be able to enhance the value of our offering and deliver on our vision of the web as the hub of customer interaction.”
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the acquisition is the latest in Adobe’s continuing strategy to bolster its software offerings for “creating and managing creative content online” in its effort to expand beyond the company’s “traditional niche as a maker of tools for graphic artists.” The WSJ cited Adobe’s $1.8-billion acquisition of Web analytics firm Omniture last year as an example of the steps the company’s taking to broaden of its strategy.
Combined with Adobe’s existing enterprise portfolio, Day’s Web solutions will enable customers to better integrate their global Web presence and business applications, unlocking value across their marketing, sales and service processes. In addition, Day customers will be able to leverage more interactive application and document capabilities from Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash, Flex, Adobe LiveCycle and PDF. The combination of Day and Adobe will help customers realize the full potential of the web in acquiring, servicing and retaining their customers, without disrupting their existing IT infrastructures.
“Organizations around the globe have recognized the importance of the online and mobile channel and turned to Day as their enterprise standard for next generation Web Content Management,” Day Software chief executive officer Erik Hansen stated. “We are excited to join Adobe and combine our expertise in WCM with technologies that create and deliver rich online and offline experiences leveraging the ubiquity of Flash and PDF. We believe this is a winning combination for both Adobe and Day customers.”
Subject to customary government approvals and the satisfaction of other customary conditions, the acquisition is expected to close before November 30, 2010, the end of Adobe’s 2010 fiscal year. At that point, Adobe plans to make Day operate as a product line within Adobe’s Digital Enterprise Solutions Business Unit, and Hansen become an Adobe employee, reporting directly to Tarkoff.
