September 29th, 2009
After my first glib reaction to the Adobe-Omniture deal, this past Friday it struck me that the proposed acquisition by Adobe deserves a lot more scrutiny.
So I’ve set myself the task to prepare a detailed in-depth report on the topic and publish it by next Monday.
I’ve collected all of the interesting articles and web posts on the subject, and this week I’m interviewing analysts, customers, competitors, interested observers and the like to try and fill in the rationale.
I do feel that this deal could be a major change in the way companies publish to the web, and hence to the future of publishing. And I’m working very hard with several fine colleagues to test the theory.
As far as I can see I’ll be the first to publish actual interviews with actual customers of the two company’s products. Surely the customers matter most.
I’m also doing an in-depth financial analysis: $1.8 billion is not spare change when buying a company that isn’t making money.
I’ll try to illustrate what the upside is, in concrete terms, and just as clearly, the downside.
I want very much to be fair, and let all voices be heard.
I’ve always admired Adobe, and don’t think that it would spend $1.8 million on a whim. But the value proposition has not been well-arcticulated by Adobe, and I’m having a heck of a time getting them to answer my emails and calls so that I can represent its viewpoint fairly.
To all of my readers: if you’ve got a perspective or insight on the subject, please comment to this entry or email me at thad@thefutureofpublishing.com.
Anyone who does so will receive a free copy of the report that will be priced at $95 (in PDF format, of course).
Over to you…