So Reuters is reporting that Sage Group is looking to buy MYOB. This on the heels of some grumbling in the Sage partner community about the company's move to give all its already-acquired products a number-name. Stephen Blythe wrote earlier:
According to the Reuters piece, they're valuing MYOB at $1 billion. With a "b." Now, if you're reading this from anywhere besides Australia or New Zealand, you might not be thinking about the same MYOB. Check out the History section of the Wikipedia listing for all the confusing details.
This is kind of a return to form for Sage, which, as the Reuters article notes, has chosen to pay down its debt over the past three years rather than go out and make new deals. Hear that, Infor?
Because this is such a market-specific buy, it's hard to work up too much snark on this deal, despite the surprising size. I would imagine Sage is just buying share in AU/NZ, and probably won't try and make all our friends down there buy MAS 500 or whatever. And despite the involvement of more private-equity goons before, during, and after this transaction, it's still reasonable to think of Sage as primarily a business software company rather than a debt-oozing money-laundering scheme.
But boy, they do have a lot of scraps on their table.
I see no value to a Sage brand by dropping already heavily co-branded names like MAS, Accpac, ACT! or Peachtree and replacing them with numbers (50, 100, 200, 300 etc). This will only add significant confusion to existing clients and prospects and add client expectations that Sage has never been able to deliver.I'm only half-kidding about calling it Sage Zero. That's working for Coke, right?
According to the Reuters piece, they're valuing MYOB at $1 billion. With a "b." Now, if you're reading this from anywhere besides Australia or New Zealand, you might not be thinking about the same MYOB. Check out the History section of the Wikipedia listing for all the confusing details.
This is kind of a return to form for Sage, which, as the Reuters article notes, has chosen to pay down its debt over the past three years rather than go out and make new deals. Hear that, Infor?
Because this is such a market-specific buy, it's hard to work up too much snark on this deal, despite the surprising size. I would imagine Sage is just buying share in AU/NZ, and probably won't try and make all our friends down there buy MAS 500 or whatever. And despite the involvement of more private-equity goons before, during, and after this transaction, it's still reasonable to think of Sage as primarily a business software company rather than a debt-oozing money-laundering scheme.
But boy, they do have a lot of scraps on their table.
Onza solutions Consulting never runs into any Sage competitors in our Microsoft Dynamics GP or Dynamics NAV deals in the Seattle, WA area anymore.
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