Quest Software Handed to Dell for $2.4 billion
Computer maker Dell Inc., in a move to strengthen its software business in the face of declining PC sales, has just acquired Quest software for $2.4 billion.
Jul 03, 2012
The deal ends a months-long bidding war that saw offers for the California-based company rise from an initial bid of $2 billion.
According to the L.A. Times, Dell plans to make Quest, which employs 1,300 software developers, the core of its software group. The company hopes to triple its software business, building it into a $2 billion-a-year operation over the next three years.
While PC sales account for the majority of the company’s revenue, Dell has recently been acquiring software companies to help it transition into the software and service industries.
Quest maintains it’s largest Russian R&D unit in St. Petersburg, with more than 200 employees working at the local centre. The Moscow office, in contrast, employs approximately 50 staff members. Most of the staff in St. Petersburg work in R&D as developers, QC, and analysts, with just a small percentage of staff related to the business unit (product managers).
The St. Petersburg office is responsible for a number of high-revenue products such as TOAD, migration tools for Exchange and Active Directory, as well as innovation.
The company’s key products focus on Windows server management, a cloud platform, and database management.
In the same L.A. Times article, the paper quoted John Swainson, president of Dell Software Group, as saying the company plans to keep Quest "relatively intact" for now. Quest has 3,850 employees worldwide.
A source at the St. Petersburg office, who asked to remain anonymous, said "Quest is expected to be the main part of the newly-created Dell Software Group, so we hope the acquisition won't bring a lot of changes to the hierarchy. And we really hope that Dell will keep its word and that there will be no significant changes for employees.
"We are a bit frightened to enter Dell’s world and hope that the company won't be too invasive with its corporate culture."
Dell shares fell 1 percent on the announcement of the company’s acquisition of Quest, to close at $12.39 on Monday.
Original article: Software Russia
According to the L.A. Times, Dell plans to make Quest, which employs 1,300 software developers, the core of its software group. The company hopes to triple its software business, building it into a $2 billion-a-year operation over the next three years.
While PC sales account for the majority of the company’s revenue, Dell has recently been acquiring software companies to help it transition into the software and service industries.
Quest maintains it’s largest Russian R&D unit in St. Petersburg, with more than 200 employees working at the local centre. The Moscow office, in contrast, employs approximately 50 staff members. Most of the staff in St. Petersburg work in R&D as developers, QC, and analysts, with just a small percentage of staff related to the business unit (product managers).
The St. Petersburg office is responsible for a number of high-revenue products such as TOAD, migration tools for Exchange and Active Directory, as well as innovation.
The company’s key products focus on Windows server management, a cloud platform, and database management.
In the same L.A. Times article, the paper quoted John Swainson, president of Dell Software Group, as saying the company plans to keep Quest "relatively intact" for now. Quest has 3,850 employees worldwide.
A source at the St. Petersburg office, who asked to remain anonymous, said "Quest is expected to be the main part of the newly-created Dell Software Group, so we hope the acquisition won't bring a lot of changes to the hierarchy. And we really hope that Dell will keep its word and that there will be no significant changes for employees.
"We are a bit frightened to enter Dell’s world and hope that the company won't be too invasive with its corporate culture."
Dell shares fell 1 percent on the announcement of the company’s acquisition of Quest, to close at $12.39 on Monday.
Original article: Software Russia