EMC Presses Forward with Hostile Bid for Data Domain

The "love triangle" involving data storage competitors NetApp and EMC and the object of their affections, storage systems and deduplication provider Data Domain, took a second turn June 3 when the Data Domain board of directors unanimously accepted a revised $1.9 acquisition offer from NetApp that it had received earlier in the day.



However, EMC, the world’s largest storage infrastructure supplier, is trying to break up the corporate nuptials by attempting a hostile-bid takeover with its June 1 bid amounting to $1.8 billion in cash, eclipsing NetApp’s original May 20 offer of $1.5 billion in cash and stock.



EMC is an aggressive, acquisition-oriented company with a great deal of cash and liquid assets that is accustomed to getting what it wants, so it is possible that the bidding war is not over. EMC has taken over about 50 storage- and security-related companies in the last six years.



In response to the day’s two developments, EMC spokesperson Michael Gallant referred eWEEK to EMC President, CEO and Chairman Joe Tucci’s statement released June 1 with the $1.8 billion offer.

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