EMC makes hostile bid for Data Domain

EMC has launched a hostile bid for Data Domain, looking to trump NetApp’s existing deal to buy the storage company for $1.5 billion.

EMC has tendered an all-cash $1.8 billion offer for Data Domain, valuing the company at $30 per share, $5 more than NetApp’s 20th May bid which had been accepted.

US-based Data Domain is primarily involved in data de-duplication solutions.

EMC CEO Joe Tucci said: “Strategically, this combination will further enhance our ability to broaden EMC’s best-in-class storage portfolio for the benefit of EMC and Data Domain customers, and this in turn will accelerate EMC’s top-and bottom-line growth rates. Our proposal is a win-win for both companies.”

The move by EMC is seen by many analysts as a spoiler against rival NetApp. NetApp and Data Domain combined would become the world’s fifth-largest storage company after EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell, and EMC already has a large portfolio of data de-duplication solutions.

In an analyst call after the announcement of the bid, Tucci said that move had been considered for some time, and that Data Domain’s solutions, which are aimed primarily at backup and archive processes would complement EMC’s own products which mainly do data de-duplication on the application server side.

“We had our eye on Data Domain, but obviously someone got there first,” Tucci said.

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