Indecent proposal: Hedge fund makes 'unsolicited' bid for Riverbed

An unwanted bid to take over WAN optimiser Riverbed for $3.1bn has been mounted by hedge fund Elliott Associates. Reg readers may be aware of Elliott from its activist, management-agitating attacks against incumbent management at Emulex, Compuware, Brocade and NetApp. Elliott, run by billionaire Paul Singer, looks for …

[Anonymous Coward]

$3M profit values the Company at $3.1B WTF

Methinks that someone is going to get their fingers burned rather badly here.

[Micky 1]

Re: $3M profit values the Company at $3.1B WTF

"Methinks that someone is going to get their fingers burned rather badly here."

They are in the business of investing, so they will assess their investments based on a lot more criteria than a single years profit.

You are forgetting the rest of the company assets, buildings, hardware, and general infrastructure, long running contracts guaranteeing future business and that's before you step foot into the patent room which could be worth billions on their own.

[theblackhand]

Re: $3M profit values the Company at $3.1B WTF

Q3 2013 profit was $3M - in 2012 they had a net profit of $54M on revenue of $548M and a further $280M sitting in the bank.

I don't know enough about Riverbed to explain the dip in profits in Q3.

[Norm DePlume]

Utter t*ssers. Kill innovation (by, for instance, starving it of money) and you kill long-term growth for a mild short-term gain.

[Steve Renouf]

Yes but, what you have to remember is that these people are not in it to support the company for the long haul - they are just after short/medium term return on their investment!

[andy mcandy]

NO

Please leave my beloved Riverbed alone ://