Microsoft Writes Off Corel

PizzaFace writes "Microsoft resuscitated Corel two and a half years ago, paying $135 million for a quarter of Corel's equity ownership. Corel talked then about bringing its products to .Net, and even hinted that it might use its Linux expertise to port .Net to Linux. Since then, Corel gave up on the Linux business and isn't talking anymore about .Net, but is instead riding its XML hobbyhorse. So Microsoft is selling its stake in Corel to a VC firm for $13 million, taking a 90% loss on the investment."

Wow, what news...

[japhar81]

Company dies, investors seek an exit... Next on slashdot: Pants put on, one leg at a time.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Corel Linux's best feature

[trmj]

That cool little bean bag penguin that came in the box.

You can still get one of these at your local Staples store for $4.50 on clearance, just ask if they have Corel WordPerfect Office 2000 for Linux.

I've got it!

[generic-man]

1. Build unsuccessful Linux company
2. Get purchased by Microsoft for X dollars
3. Get sold by Microsoft for X/10 dollars
4. If Microsoft has money left over, go to step 1.
5. Microsoft goes bankrupt!

Microsoft lost $123 million on the Corel deal. If they do this just 326 more times, they'll be bankrupt!

Re:Wow, what news...

[mickwd]

I prefer not to wear anything when I'm sliding the pole into the Bat-cave.

Re:Missing the point

[Kevin Stevens]

I wouldnt go that far. Corel was pretty much dead as it was. It would have helped MS a great deal more to leave the 'competition' in place and let it get its 8% marketshare so it could tell the DOJ about how its fragile market dominance could topple at any second. If thats true... then MS should start to look at itself as an Operating System and Software company, and not a Window's company, and port Office to Linux and make its own linux Distro. Sounds crazy? Yeah it does. But I can guarantee that Joe Schmoe wont mind trying linux out if MS backs it. Put on top of that fat service contracts for support and apple as the only niche player... and things work out well.

Re:Wow, what news...

[Mr. No Skills]

Now there's a callous!

Draw!

[tsa]

I hope this means that I can keep on using Corel Draw. Haven't found anything better yet.

Like, ummmm, we have the gift or something?

[kfg]

Like most of us didn't see this coming, and even predict it, two and a half years ago?

As a matter of fact, didn't Nostradamus predict this? I think it was in some quatrain about the tyrant at the 45th parallel in the new world.

I'll bet you can even dick "Hister" around with numerology to make it turn out to be "Bill Gates," or at least "Borg."

Nothing to see here. It was all preordained.

KFG

Damn.. Microsoft escapes destiny

[The OPTiCIAN]

I had hoped that Microsoft buying Corel would lead to its downfall. After all, that's what's happened to everyone else who has had wordperfect :) But at least they took a huge loss in the process.

Re:Wow, what news...

[Anonymous Coward]

where is that meta mod "scary" when you need it.

Details of Price Hike

[handy_vandal]

Considering Microsoft's capitalization, that means that future Windows XP licenses will cost .000001 US/cent more in order to recoup the Corel adventure losses...

Sure, Microsoft's cost works out to .000001 US/cent per license count. But MS will actually charge $9.99 more per license count. Why? For the same reason a dog licks its balls: because it can.