Adobe Systems Inc said on Tuesday it would buy the Web analytic software company Omniture Inc for about US$1.8 billion, giving the maker of content-creation software a way to let marketers measure the effectiveness of such content.
San Jose, California-based Adobe, which makes Flash, Acrobat and Photoshop software, said it would buy Omniture for US$21.50 per share in cash, a premium of 24 percent over Omniture’s closing share price on Tuesday. Omniture shares jumped nearly 26 percent in extended trading.
The announcement came as Adobe said it earned US$136 million, or US$0.26 per share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended in August, down 29 percent from the same time a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, Adobe earned US$0.35 per share, a penny above what analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting.
Revenue fell 21 percent to US$697.5 million, inching past analyst expectations of US$686.2 million.
The recession has slowed demand for Creative Suite 4, the most recent version of the software package that brings in the bulk of the company’s revenue. But analysts say this will likely mean more pent-up demand for Creative Suite 5 when it launches.
For the fourth quarter, Adobe forecast earnings of US$0.23 to US$0.29 per share and adjusted earnings of US$0.33 to US$0.39 per share. The latter compares with analyst expectations of US$0.37 per share.
Adobe expects sales of US$690 million to US$740 million for the quarter, bracketing Wall Street’s estimates of US$719.2 million.
Omniture, based in Orem, Utah, offers a variety of Web traffic analysis and other products for companies to improve their marketing over the Internet. Its customers include Apple Inc, Time Warner Inc and Walt Disney Co.
Adobe expects the Omniture deal to close by November. The company will operate separately under Adobe as a new business unit, with Omniture CEO Josh James working as senior vice president reporting to Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.
Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, said the planned acquisition would allow Adobe to create new streams of revenue even as its existing businesses decline.
Though he called the deal “very timely,” Chowdhry believes Adobe is overpaying for Omniture, especially because that company’s paid products have been losing market share to Google’s analytics service, which is free.
He said US$12 to US$13 per share — rather than US$21.50 — would have been a fair value for the company.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique