(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — NetApp (www.netapp.com) and EMC (www.emc.com) continue to engage in a bidding war over data storage solutions provider Data Domain (www.datadomain.com), despite Data Domain already agreeing to be acquired by NetApp for just under $2 billion in cash and stock.
EMC has directly approached Data Domain’s shareholders in an effort to convince the company that its offer is better because it will be paid entirely in cash. Data Domain is expected to respond to EMC’s offer by Tuesday.
NetApp had previously announced a friendly acquisition agreement with Data Domain on May 20 for $25 a share. It later increased this to $30 a share after EMC placed an unsolicited bid of $30 in cash.
On June 2, Data Domain’s board formally agreed to NetApp’s offer, but it now has two offers to review.
Data Domain provides a range of data storage and disaster recovery solutions. The company went public in 2007 and has since then been growing at a rapid pace.
Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based EMC placed a full-page ad in the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday to reassure Data Domain’s 800 employee-workforce that it would excel under the company’s ownership.
Jay Kidd, the chief marketing officer of Sunnyvale, California-based NetApp, countered this move by telling the Mercury News that NetApp would be more culturally suited for Data Domain since both companies are based in Silicon Valley area.
In the article, he called EMC’s intentions for acquiring Data Domain a “defensive move to try to limit Data Domain’s growth,” whereas NetApp is looking to add the company to its product line.
EMC recently acquired data center management provider Configuresoft.
An EMC spokesman said that the company’s purchase of Data Domain would grow the combined companies’ product lines into a billion-dollar business.
The company added that Data Domain would remain “intact” as a division of EMC.
