SCO Shares Plunge, Canopy Management Change 400
bretberger writes "Shares in Utah's SCO Group went into a tailspin late Tuesday as news spread of both deepening losses and an apparent coup at the software company's corporate parent, the Canopy Group."
Good news (Score:5, Funny)
don't forget... (Score:5, Informative)
eric
Re:Good news (Score:2)
I can think of one! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I can think of one! (Score:5, Funny)
I can't believe you're spreading rumors about this mythical "getting laid" thing.
Cue maniacal laughter... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Good news (Score:3, Funny)
Five words:
My living room. Natalie. Grits.
Re:Good news (Score:3, Insightful)
That 51% of Americans grow a brain?
News? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:News? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, exactly. And when Laura DiDio said: "The fate of SCO is one of the big question marks. New management at Canopy . . . may push [SCO] to try and settle." I was thinking "Settle for what? Not having IBM kick their collective asses into orbit around the sun?" I don't think they're in much of a position to try bargaining.
Re:News? (Score:5, Funny)
SCO Lawyer: OK
The IBM lawyer grabs a pen a scribbles on a sheet of paper, folds the paper in half, and slides it across the table. The SCO lawyer reaches, picks up the paper, unfolds it, and sees this:
----------------
| |
| _ |
| / \ |
| / \ |
| | | |
| | | |
| \ / |
| \_/ |
| |
|______________|
IBM Laywer: Do we have an agreement?
- Tony
Re:News? (Score:5, Funny)
Burns: I'm going to write a figure on this piece of paper. It's not quite as large as the last one, but I think you'll find it fair. [draws a giant zero]
Hutz: I think we should take it.
Re:News? (Score:4, Funny)
SCO Lawyer #1: (aside to SCO Lawyer #2): dude he totally drew a vagina. We're gonna get PUSSY!
SCO Lawyer #2: (to #1): I know it! It's 100% grade A putang for us! Daryl is gonna be STOKED! I'm gonna step out and call him now. (steps out) Dude! Pop open a foamer and sit down, Christmas is coming early this year.......
#1 (to IBM Lawyer, stifling laughter and adjusting pants): All right, we've considered your offer and are prepared to accept it. Do we, uh, accept it here or somewhere else?
IBM Lawyer: What the fuck are you talking about?
Re:News? (Score:2)
I suppose $31 million dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to ...
Re:News? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:News? (Score:3, Interesting)
-N
Re:News? (Score:5, Insightful)
Each of these claims have had some merit as well as critisism of the Yankee Group reports.
Are they another firm that waits until the writing on the wall is written in neon and suddenly pipe up with a resounding "Me too!"
Laugh-out-loud funny from Didio (Score:3, Interesting)
"New management at Canopy . . . may push [SCO] to try and settle."
Honestly, I don't think it matters how hard SCO get's pushed - if IBM doesn't wanna, then it ain't gonna happen... and IBM knows they're gonna win.
I just picture it as Peewee Herman in the ring with Mike Tyson - near the end of the 12th round, Tyson is untouched, and Peewee is a bleeding smudge on the canvas as his manager thinks "Hmm, maybe we should ask Tyson if he wants to call it a draw."
Re:News? (Score:2)
WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:4, Funny)
Printed on soft paper? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:5, Informative)
Anybody who "bought low" today (around 10:00 AM) and sold at market close made a cool 14%. The price started its correction near the market close, and will probably return to close to its Monday levels.
I mean dude, look at the charts. Notice the volume spike at around 10:00 AM. It was this sudden accumulation move that caused the prices to turn back around. The whole game is purely psychological. Today was certainly a good day to buy SCOX.
Re:WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:3, Insightful)
Wanna hear about my REITs that are up almost 300% counting dividend investments?
Or how about the 1000 shares of AAPL I bought at 19 (well, before I sold some to buy a new 17-inch PB, heh)
If you want to make money in the stock market, BUY AND HOLD a few good companies, don't gamble with CRAP like SCOX.
Can you tell me what's gonna move 14% TOMORROW so I can get in on it before it happens? Didn't think so!
Re:WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:3, Interesting)
You might have had a point if yesterday after close hadn't been when SCOX had the investor conference call announcing that they lost more than twice as much money [thestreet.com] as the only analyst covering them had predicted. It's never "a good day" to gamble exclusively on market f
Re:WOW! Now it's cheap! (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think that's a good idea. When I'm high I don't make very good deals.
Canopy Group? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Canopy Group? Dont you mean ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Canopy Group? (Score:2)
Or Mr. Burns
"I call this enemy...the sun."
Re:Canopy Group? (Score:3, Funny)
I suspect the sun would continue its fusion reaction without noticing...
Re:Canopy Group? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Canopy Group? (Score:3, Funny)
The only way justice is to be done... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The only way justice is to be done... (Score:5, Insightful)
You seem to be under the delusion that some other administration would go after them. White collar crime is nothing new, as is the tacit guarantee that white collar criminals are virtually unpunished (with a few token ones like Martha Stewart and a couple of Enron officers). The fact is that it's nearly always the extremely wealthy, ivy-league educated that even compete for the presidency. And one thing can be said of the wealthy: They have a great deal more sympathy for the problems of their fellow upper crust than they do for the problems of any other economic strata. Democrat, Republican, whatever... The rich have the belief that they pay the taxes, so they should get the police -- not the areas that actually have crime. They pay the taxes, so the laws should benefit their lifestyles, not the mid and lower class.
And never forget that Kerry still has even more money than Bush.
Nor can I think of any president in the last half-century that did much to prosecute white-collar crime.
And before that, there was the great depression, where everybody was poor anyway...
Hmm... I've got it! We need another Theodore Roosevelt. A guy that spent his presidency breaking up monopolies and fighting for the working class.
He's dead, though. And I doubt he'd win a modern election.
Re:The only way justice is to be done... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yup. I was looking at the only known picture of TR and FDR last night and said wistfully to my wife "Why can't we have someone like that be president again?" The answer, of course, is television.
WRT white collar crime - no one walks the streets at night worried that a white collar criminal might kill them pointlessly while looting their pension fund.
I know it's trite, but: (Score:3, Funny)
AH-HAH
</nelson>
Seriously, SCO should be in the OED under "schadenfreude". I love seeing this stuff!
Re:I know it's trite, but: (Score:2, Funny)
Homer: No, I do not know what shaden-frawde is.
[sarcasm] Please tell me, because I'm dying to know.
Lisa: It's a German term for `shameful joy', taking pleasure in the suffering
of others.
Homer: Oh, come on Lisa. I'm just glad to see him fall flat on his butt!
[getting mad]
He's usually all happy and comfortable, and surrounded by loved ones,
and it makes me feel... What's the opposite of that shameful joy
thing of yours?
Lisa: [nastily] Sour grapes.
Ho
Re:I know it's trite, but: (Score:2)
Re:I know it's trite, but: (Score:2)
Microsoft will be the white Knight (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft will be the white Knight (Score:5, Interesting)
What I want to know is how illegal this whole racket was...
Novell, not Microsoft (Score:5, Interesting)
Novell is making Linux the centerpiece of its technology strategy, so it has something to loose.
Ending this thing once and for all would endear the Linux community to Novell, so it has something to gain.
It also has $475M [zdnet.com] earmarked for acquisitions.
Novell has a history with SCO/Canopy. Ray Noorda was the chairman at Novell before he started Caldera. Darcy Mott was Novell's Treasurer, and R. Duff Thompson was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. Even Darl McBride came through Novell.
SCOX [yahoo.com] has a $79M market cap. For this small portion of their acquisition warchest, all this goes away and they get real linux street cred. Their marketing department should be lobbying hardest for this one.
When they're done with that they'll buy UNIX(TM) from The Open Group and geeks will write songs about them.
Only if they want to crush Redhat, that is.
Neither Novell, nor Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't get street cred for rewarding extortion. Look at where SCOX was before they pulled this BS. About a buck [yahoo.com] a share. And SCOX has diluted shareholder value (in other words, printed and sold more stock) since then. Let's see: option 1. Pay more than 4x the original value of the company for an extortion threat or 2. let SCOX die a slow, painful and public death for being idiots. Anyone thinking of getting good PR by preventing this company from publicly bleeding to death from its self inflicted gut-shot is stupid. Paying off extortionists is *always* bad PR.
-Blaine
Re:Novell, not Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
SCO probably still has some assets, and it's possible that Novell might be interested in some of them. But if so, it would better off buying them from SCO's creditors in bankruptcy court.
Buying scox = buying lawsuits and nothing else (Score:3, Insightful)
Scox has absolutely nothing of any value. No IP, no worthwhile products, nothing. According to scox, by the end of January scox will have $7MM in cash - less than $0.50/share.
Scox is nothing but a penny-stock scam. The idea of a legitimate company buying scox is absurd.
The new Canopy CEO is... (Score:5, Funny)
Ahahaha... Thank God! (Score:2)
Re:The new Canopy CEO is... (Score:2)
"Plunged?" (Score:3, Insightful)
I've seen companies take a 35% hit based on bad news and return to previous prices in less than a week. Considering the apparent magnitude of the announcement and the ensuing PIDDLY 7.5% drop I'm going to wager on the stock price returning to its recent levels.
I'm placing a market open order for (virtual) shares of SCOX right now.
(This is not financial advice, I'd barely even consider it virtual financial advice.)
Re:"Plunged?" (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, it may well go back up again, even though it really *shouldn't*.
But, who knows.
Re:"Plunged?" (Score:5, Informative)
Especially when the stock was 25% lower less than two months ago.
I do have to thank SCOX for one thing, though. They got one of the Groklaw readers to pester UCal for a copy of the secret AT&T/BSD agreement under a Freedom of Information request. As it turns out, there wasn't any thing scary in there after all.
Re:Hype! Hype! I can't read a graph! (Score:2)
SCOG is the SCO Group.
Re:"Plunged?" (Score:2)
I never said that was my strategy. My strategies actually have very little to do with technicals, but in this case I just have a strong feeling that SCOX is going to recover tomorrow. It's been the pattern in the past. My "gut feeling" is no more or less bullshit than the speculations you see every day on the trading sit
Re:"Plunged?" (Score:3)
I read the stock charts, which (I thought) were more authoritative than the article. I didn't factor in the change since yesterday. I screwed up, and will report for execution tomorrow at noon.
WHY?? (Score:5, Funny)
Settling? (Score:5, Insightful)
Settle? Does anyone see IBM settling? Why would they when they will win.
Re:Settling? (Score:2, Interesting)
Depends how much SCO is willing to offer. Certainly, IBM isn't going to
*give* SCO anything in a settlement, if that's what you mean, but they might
be persuaded to call off their lawyers and forget the whole thing ever
happened if SCO offers them enough. (I'm not sure what SCO has to offer,
though. All their remaining material assets perhaps...)
SCO Insider Trades (Score:5, Informative)
12/07/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 10,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $45,870.00
12/07/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 6,100 Open Market Sale proceeds of $28,745.00
12/01/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 15,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $61,767.00
11/30/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 70,500 Open Market Sale proceeds of $273,550.00
11/24/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 60,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $216,181.50
11/22/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 37,500 Open Market Sale proceeds of $131,250.00
11/19/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 10,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $35,000.00
11/17/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 10,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $35,465.00
11/08/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 100,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $372,615.00
11/05/04 BAYSTAR CAPITAL II L P Beneficial Owner of more than 10% of a Class of Security 22,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $80,900.00
Re:SCO Insider Trades (Score:5, Interesting)
Hope (Score:5, Insightful)
That their (inevitable) demise receive AT LEAST AS MUCH publicity on public news channels / papers that their foolish lawsuits received. To inform the population that it was FUD. Or else they'll have (kinda) suceeded in inspiring a doubt in the minds of many concerning Linux legitimacy. No one on slashdot, obviously, but the common man who heard on news that SCO was suing IBM on UNIX/Linux for code thievery... maybe.
I for one am shocked! (Score:4, Funny)
Not enough.. (Score:2)
Jaime Escalante says: "You can DO it!"
Joe
3 MONTH... (Score:2)
Re:Not enough.. (Score:2)
DiDio Doin it Again (Score:3, Interesting)
Does she expect to retain any value as an "independant analyst" in the post-SCO market? It's all too common for analysts to be paid to support a product or company, but they're usually a little less blatant about it. Who would value her opinion, knowing that her opinion is for sale?
Though... I suspect (recently) that it's more Canopy holding her leash, than SCO, since she seems to choose Canopy over SCO when she has to (like in her recent comments - she still didn't say anything bad about them, but saved all her real praise for her theoretical overlords at Canopy).
Re:DiDio Doin it Again (Score:3, Insightful)
I imagine she expects a lucrative career doing similar PR work for other companies. I cannot imagine SCO is the only company out there for which this kind of service would not be greatly appreciated. Toxic sludge is good for you.
Who would value her opinion, knowing that her opinion is for sale?
People are at least in theory falling for the idea her relentless PR for the Canopy group is "independent" at the moment.
Sucker! (Score:5, Funny)
Dear David,
We ran out of money, but we will give you an even bigger slice of nothing.
Love,
Darl
Current Price... (Score:2, Redundant)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=scox [yahoo.com]
5 year trend (Score:4, Informative)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SCOX&t=5y [yahoo.com]
SCO started the attack on Linux first (early 2003) when their stock was at the lowest point, and it paid off a bit - until now - and they are back where they started, except now everybody hates them
can you hear this? (Score:4, Funny)
we can't let this happen (Score:5, Funny)
What? (Score:2, Informative)
Shares in Utah's SCO Group went into a tailspin late Tuesday.
So what? The stock is higher now [yahoo.com] than it was when they started all this litigation in 2003.
Rumor Has it... (Score:5, Interesting)
That Mustard is a bit of a hatchet man. (walks into a sinking ship and throws so many people overboard that its starts floating.. then points that barely floating ship back in a direction that will assure the safety of whomever is left)
Couple that with the CFO's leaving and the REALLY piss poor financials that were released yesterday.. I reckon we're about to see the end of this whole saga.
Re:Rumor Has it... (Score:3, Funny)
Or was it a rope in the study? Damn, I'll have to check my cards...
SLT going down, text (Score:3, Informative)
SCO shares closed at $4.51 in regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, down 33 cents, or 7 percent. Then came SCO's dismal earnings reports for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2004; within minutes shares plunged another 46 cents, or 10 percent, in after-hours trading, to $4.05.
SCO, embroiled in multibillion-dollar federal litigation against IBM and others over its purported rights to the Unix and Linux operating systems, more than quadrupled its fourth-quarter losses. For the quarter ending Oct. 31, SCO's loss sank to $6.5 million, or 37 cents a share; the company had lost $1.6 million, or 12 cents, in the same period last year.
Investors already were absorbing news, leaked out in bits and pieces earlier Tuesday, about an apparent weekend coup that ousted Ralph Yarro, Canopy's longtime president, chairman and chief executive, along with Chief Financial Officer Darcy Mott.
Secretaries at Canopy's Lindon headquarters confirmed that Yarro and Mott were "no longer with the company."
Callers to Canopy were told the company's new CEO is William Mustard, believed most recently to have been a managing director at Smooth Engine, a New York-based consulting firm that provides both interim and permanent executive replacements.
Mott's replacement had not yet been named. Questions regarding the ousters were referred directly to Mustard. He did not return several calls seeking comment.
Messages left at the home telephone numbers of Yarro and Mott - both former proteges of former Novell chief and networking tech guru Ray Noorda - also went unanswered; so did questions about how their departure from Canopy might affect SCO and its now 21-month-old battle with IBM, the world's largest computer company.
Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio called the ousters "a changing of the guard at Canopy. It is quite literally out with the old and in with the new.
"With the departure[s] . . . go the last vestiges of the Ray Noorda era. Yankee Group expects that other, equally significant changes will be in the offing for 2005," she said. "The fate of SCO is one of the big question marks. New management at Canopy . . . may push [SCO] to try and settle."
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Of more immediate concern to investors, though, were SCO's finances. In addition to growing losses, the company's quarterly revenue also tumbled more than 50 percent - $10.1 million compared with $24.3 million a year ago. The decrease was primarily due to a precipitous slide in the company's SCOsource revenue - a paltry $120,000 compared with more than $10.3 million for 2003's fourth quarter.
For fiscal 2004, revenue was $42.8 million, down sharply from 2003's $79.25 million. Shareholders lost $16.2 million, or $1.07 per share this fiscal year, compared with $5.3 million, or 34 cents, the year before.
The SCOsource division manages the company's Unix intellectual property, and oversees SCO's largely unsuccessful attempts to sell licenses to Linux users under implied threat of copyright infringement lawsuits.
SCO CEO Darl McBride, anticipating victory in SCO's lawsuit against IBM, believes SCOSource revenue is destined to revive. The suit, awaiting rulings on motions for dismissal and evidentiary discovery, is not expected to come to trial until next fall.
"We're in a challenging business environment," he said during an earnings teleconference. "[But] we believe there is value in our Unix licensing business and we offer our customers . . . value they need to be made aware of."
McBride also pointed to a recent deal SCO made with its chief Linux litigator, attorney David Boies of New York. His law firm agreed to cap the overall cost of SCO's lawsuits to $31 million in return for a bigger piece - 33 percent, instead of 20 percent - of any settlements.
McBride said that p
Re:SLT going down, text (Score:3, Informative)
"settle"? Not a chance that can happen. Drop the case is really the only thing that could happen. Why would anyone pay them a dollar? (Unless the settlement, is "we'll drop the case if you agree not to sue US.")
He's only sued people with enough money to defend themselves. I suspect he'll keep lawsuits open until SCO goes into bankruptcy, for fear that SCO will be countersued for legal fees.
A nice lump of coal from St. Nick. HO HO HAAA (Score:2)
Plunge? (Score:2)
Hollands on the stock price (Score:2, Insightful)
At close, the stock was around $4 which is down from recent values. Look at the volume though; nearly 400,000 shares. That's a lot for SCO. The daily average is a lot less. Finding a buyer for that much stock at that price seems like a major coup to me, not some kind of disaster.
The following is a quote from an article by
settle? don't make me laugh! (Score:2)
I doubt that Canopy even HAS enough money to offer to entice IBM to settle, let alone actually be willing to offer it.
Or are they smoking crack, and dreaming that IBM will pay to settle?
I'm still planning a trip to Lindon when the lawsuits are over to see the patch of scorched earth that will be left where The SCO Group's headquarters once stood.
Those of you that haven't already re
A real coup at Canopy (Score:2)
Now, if all the members of the board would please line up against this brick wall. Its for a group photo, really....
Settling in WHO'S favor? (Score:2, Insightful)
"With the departure[s] . . . go the last vestiges of the Ray Noorda era. Yankee Group expects that other, equally significant changes will be in the offing for 2005," she said. "The fate of SCO is one of the big question marks. New management at Canopy . . . may push [SCO] to try and settle."
And how exactly are they going to settle? Seems to me that with IBM
License issues? (Score:2, Funny)
Setting: The boss' office. The President and IT Director are meeting with the lead Sysadmin
Clueless IT Director to Sysadmin: So, if SCO folds will we renew our Linux license directly with Microsoft next year?
Long pause ...
Sysadmin begins to shake uncontrollably, breaks his pencil, quits job, and opens a book store in the Bahamas.
SCO Management (Score:5, Funny)
Quick question (Score:2)
Damn (Score:3, Insightful)
It's been obvious that things were headed this way for awhile, but I still wanted the judges ruling.
bogus report (Score:5, Insightful)
Another number: 99% drop (Score:4, Informative)
Naturally, the truth is somewhere in between. This is bad news for SCO's strategies. That does not mean McBride won't be able to convince his minders to hold the course and continue with litigation. Strictly speaking, at this moment, they're still convinced. Neverhteless, it's obviously a bumpy road ahead for them.
So, don't throw a victory party yet, but I think we're all entitled to spend a few minutes smirking.
Re:Another number: 99% drop (Score:5, Interesting)
$10M in the bank and a burn rate of $3M per quarter.
Unless they get some extra revenue within 6 months they're toast.
Re:Another number: 99% drop (Score:3, Informative)
Unless they get some extra revenue within 6 months they're toast.
I's not so good at that fancy 'new math' stuff, perticularly with scoundrels like SCO cooking da books, but I recon that works out to 10 months. A-yup.
-
Classic Quotes (Score:5, Interesting)
This remark just made my day. Imagine SCO trying to settle, being pressured by it's parent company, sitting with IBM attourneys, trying to 'reach out' to IBM to make some sort of agreement. I figure they'll eventually both agree that SCO has wasted all of their time and money on something that is going to eventually cost it's upper management their careers, and hopefully their freedom (but I doubt they'll realize that quite yet.)
and this:
"We're in a challenging business environment," he said during an earnings teleconference. "[But] we believe there is value in our Unix licensing business and we offer our customers . . . value they need to be made aware of."
It's straight out of The Godfather. Way to tell it, Darl!
Canopy group (Score:3, Funny)
Before you all rush to celebrate (Score:3, Insightful)
Bear in mind that the weasels at the top will loot the burning hulk and golden parachute to new jobs with their friends and relatives, while the actual working stiffs at SCO are the ones getting "reorganised" out of the door with nothing to show for their work, some of which will have been performed before SCO went Dark Side.
Yeah... (Score:2)
Re:woo! (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:but the real question is... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:but the real question is... (Score:3, Interesting)
The Santa Cruz Operation actually started out as a pretty cool company with a great coporate culture here in Santa Cruz, California. I knew a lot of the engineers and I was even part of their High-Tech Corporate Bowling League, which was a joke but kind of spooky when you look back at it. At some point in the mid-1990's the executives started taking the company in questionable directions. Every year the staff puts on the SCO follies. One year they did a parody of A Christm
Re:but the real question is... (Score:4, Informative)
They sold their Unix licensing business (which they had bought from Novell) and their name to Caldera. Caldera changed it's name to SCO, and (old) SCO changed their name to Tarentella.
So, that's not them that are there now.
Re:How will this affect Trolltech ??? (Score:5, Informative)