The hard lesson learned from eBay’s gargantuan acquisition of Skype is that if the logic behind a deal is not crystal clear then… just, don’t do it.
Because even “obvious” and straightforward deals like Synoptics-Wellfleet (just showing off!), Daimler-Chrysler or Palm-Handspring went sour. So trying to “spin” something that just doesn’t fit together is simply criminal in these recessionary times and when it requires to empty its coffin – Adobe has about $1.2 billion in the bank – to complete the $1.8 billion transaction.
So, just like eBay didn’t need Skype (and doubly so not at its inflated value), Adobe doesn’t need a money-loosing Omniture to get out of its own marasme, which will add another distraction to the already distracted management team, while its core business is falling.
But, what it needs is to really focus on its core business: get rid of its tiny “enterprise” division, boost its cash-cow i.e. the Creative tools (Photoshop, Premiere) and better monetise Flash and Acrobat (the Knowledge Worker unit). Shantanu?
Posted by TechPulse 360 
Not impressed. That’s how I’ll summarize Adobe’s response to Microsoft’s Silverlight 3 release today.
