IBM has recently been at the center of several acquisitions and
mergers. The most notable being the acquisition of Rational Software which
IBM purchased for $2.1 billion to acquire the company. An article
entitled, "IBM completes acquisition of Rational Software", explains that
Rational Software "provides open, industry standard tools, best practices
and services for developing business applications and building software
products and systems, including embedded software for devices such as cell
phones and medical systems." ("IBM completes acquisition of Rational
This was an important acquisition for IBM and will increase the scope
of the companies operations. This particular acquisition was approved by
Rational's shareholders in January of 2002 and Rational Software will be
integrated into IBM's business as the fifth brand of software. ("IBM
completes acquisition of Rational Software") This acquisition will aid IBM
in providing businesses with more comprehensive tools to meet their
More recently IBM acquired the software company Candle. The company
"sells software for managing back-end corporate systems, including tools
designed to improve mainframe application performance." (IBM snaps up
another partner") IBM and Candle had actually been partners since 1976, so
the acquisition was smooth because the companies were already familiar with
IBM also acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting which also
greatly expanded the scope of the business. The consulting firm was
acquired in 2002 for an estimated $3.5 billion. (Shankland) One of the
perks that IBM offered PWC employees to keep them form seeking employment
elsewhere was stock options which were greater than they could have held if
they were part of an IPO. (Shankland) This is just one of the ways that IBM
has learned to deal with acquisitions.
One of the companies most notable m
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