And while Microsoft is a reborn tech giant in , the distraction caused by its antitrust fight and a series of miscues meant it spent years fighting for relevance among its Big Tech peers.
Those efforts, however, required Microsoft to reinvent itself. Rather than peddling individual pieces of software, it began selling subscriptions that generate recurring revenue. While the individual sales provide more short-term revenue, subscriptions bring in more cash overall.
Its Office products, for instance, are now primarily available as cloud-based products for both commercial and consumer applications. It's with more enterprises moving to the cloud.
And the stock has now started to get rerated on being a cloud company, rather than the traditional Microsoft. The company now offers cloud-based versions of IT infrastructure, web hosting services, and Office, as well as on-premises versions of its server software. While Nadella and company could kick back and rake in the cash by selling its cloud offerings to its existing install base of customers, Microsoft is continuing to innovate.
Netscape's two groups, the Netcenter portal and its enterprise software offerings, will continue to operate separately, with both reporting to AOL president Robert Pittman. Mike Homer, who runs Netcenter, will continue in that role, as will Barry Ariko, who joined Netscape in August as chief operating officer and heads the enterprise software group. Andreessen announced last week that he is taking a sabbatical from Netscape, and plans to return to work January 4.
No mention was made of James Clark, Netscape's cofounder and chairman who has had a small operating role in recent months, but he is not expected to have a role following the acquisition.
Netscape has an employment agreement with Barksdale, whereby he was granted an option to buy 8 million shares of Netscape stock at an exercise price of 5. The great transformation Netscape, which pioneered Web navigation with its Navigator browser, has transformed itself during the past year into a Web portal as well as an enterprise and e-commerce software business. AOL hit Netscape hard in when it made Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser its default, giving Microsoft what many saw as a huge edge in the battle for browser market share.
Microsoft general counsel William Neukom today reiterated the company's view that the deal between AOL and Netscape, and AOL's alliance with Sun, show that the government's antitrust suit against the software giant is groundless. Gartenberg said it remains to be seen what the deal means for companies that produce media software in competition with Microsoft. That will ultimately determine the impact of this deal. I guess the Opera guys are sort of left out.
Gates and Parsons were not specific about the timing of the settlement. Parsons said there was "no magic in the timing," adding that Gates called him six to eight weeks ago to discuss a potential agreement.
Case said in January that he would step down this month. Despite the deal with Microsoft, AOL will continue to do business with companies such as RealNetworks and others, Parsons said, stressing that the deal with Microsoft is not exclusive. As for instant-messaging interoperability, Gates did not offer any specific timeline for allowing their rival services to communicate. The deal is more of an agreement to hold discussions rather than a technological road map.
The deal was announced after the stock markets had closed. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic.
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