Investment Firm Bids to Buy SCOs UNIX Operations

WebCowboy writes "It appears that there are still enough people out there deluded enough to see value in SCOs UNIX operations. York Capital Management has put in a $36 million bid for SCOs UNIX operations. The offer includes coverage of up to $10 million for payment of legal fees and York Capital would assume ownership of the disputed UNIX IP as well as what is left of the lawsuits. Interestingly, SCO has offered this up for competitive bid (who would want to though?). Upon completion of the transaction, should bankruptcy court approve, SCOX would become solely a mobile applications provider (which is the only part of SCOs offerings that have undergone any meaningful development for quite some time)."

Re:ties to MS/Baystar?

[WindBourne]

Considering that Boeing, MS and Hollywood are America's biggest exports, probably not. And boeing is about to be a lot less (they have shifted a number of jobs offshore to help sales; basically they were forced to copy Airbus's model, since airbus did this to get sales). And there is more resistance these days to Hollywood's copyright extensions. So, no, the feds are not going to allow it (though plenty of Americans would go along with it).

Re:For once

[MLease]

You mean instead of the "Profit!" line?

-Mike

BS, There is no buyer

[Herkum01]

There is no bid, SCO said in bankrupty court that there "MAY be a buyer".

They are going down the tubes and they are doing anything they can to stem the tide. If they means they go to bankruptcy court to spread this rumor, so be it. Only a fool would believe them.

Re:Does this not screw Novell?

[mce]

Actually, at least based on the limited info I have seen, from a purely financial point of view Novell should be happy. SCO does not have the money that it owes Novell, but YCM does. So, actually, I wouldn't be surprised to find out later that Novell helped to set it all up.

Please note that the deal will cost YCM more than $36m, so their valuation of the thing they'd be acquiring must be considerably higher as well.

• If they behave sensibly, they will stop the lawsuits and pay Novell (that is: on top of the $36m). Next they will need to spend some money to clean up the mess and carve up the pieces. Only after that has been resolved, can they think of selling the viable bits and making a profit.

• If they do not behave sensibly, they will continue the lawsuits and loose more money in the process (e.g. on legal fees). Even if they think they still have a chance of winning something along the way, they sure know very well that odds are against them and they will have taken that into account during their risk calculations while valueing SCO.

Companies such as YCM do not step into a very risky deal like this one without a clear view on a sizeable return on investment that would compensate for all the risk. I have a feeling that a few years from now the YCM-SCO example might become standard case study in business schools.

Time moves fast in IT

[SmallFurryCreature]

Its unix was never a top contender. It sure as hell ain't a Solaris. SCO ain't no IBM, it ain't even a HP. If you want cheap, there is Red Hat or any of the other Linux distros. So what is the value of UnixWare/OpenServer?

You don't get the support of IBM, you don't get the sheer robustness of Solaris, you don't get the opensource from Linux, you just pay more then Linux, get less support then from IBM, and a WHOLE lot less robust not just then Solaris, but ALL the other unixes as well. SCO unix is a dump. NOBODY LIKES IT.

The only thing that has going for it that it has a large install base for historical reasons, point-of-sale (cash register systems, fast food checkouts), who are often reluctant to switch. IT in this sector is always a mess, things never work, are always delayed and cost a fortune, so when a system finally operates, they don't want to change (nor need too, cash register technology really doesn't advance that much).

Don't forget that SCO hasn't been doing any development on their closed source unix versions, they were a linux shop too once.

Basically current IT strategy (HA) is for everyone who can to move away from SCO. Get that crap out of there at the next upgrade cycle. It never was a good product, has been neglected and the company has proved to be lead by the truly insane. They SUED their OWN PAYING customers. You don't do that.

Even you advice against using SCO "Whatever SCO (the company) has done to Linux, SCO's UNIX systems were alright." We disagree on that you think they were once alright, but even you admit that your are talking PAST tense.

As for selling it all of, WHAT IP? They have been proven in court not to own Unix, what IP have they got left?

So why are they doing it? Who is to say they do? MS been behind other finance deals related to SCO. For MS blowing 36 mill is nothing. Spare change. Could they be trying to buy SCO to continue the fight againt Linux? They done it before, and Ballmer is still on the warpath.

That is the most likely scenario to me.

Re:Does this not screw Novell?

[sortius_nod]

I don't think Novell has any desire to take over a stagnant company.

Re:From Groklaw comments:

[Otter]

It has to be a coincidence.

Maybe I'm missing something. This company is in the same office building as a second company, the CEO of which founded a third company 16 years ago. The "coincidence" is what?

Given that the best the kookazoids at Groklaw can come up with is some sketchy conspiracy theory about "nanotubes", there doesn't seem to be a whole lot here.

Re:Doesn't it lool very suspicious?

[Wdomburg]

They have OpenServer and Unixware which contain IP beyond the SVR4. They still have a significant installed base of vertical applications (particularly in point of sale and telephony applications). It's emphatically not a growing concern but there's plenty of money to be made in support contracts and migration services for the right company.

Re:100% incorrect, as stated.

[NormalVisual]

I didn't address your critique because I didn't want a flamewar.

Then perhaps you shouldn't have acted like a total asshole.