Oracle loses $10B JEDI cloud contract appeal yet again

Oracle was never fond of the JEDI cloud contract process, that massive $10 billion, decade-long Department of Defense cloud contract that went to a single vendor. It was forever arguing to anyone who would listen that that process was faulty and favored Amazon. Yesterday it lost another round in court when the U.S. Court of […] Continue reading Oracle loses $10B JEDI cloud contract appeal yet again

SAP decision to spin out Qualtrics 20 months after spending $8B surprises industry watchers

When SAP announced it was spinning out Qualtrics on Sunday, a company it bought less than two years ago for an eye-popping $8 billion, it was enough to make your head spin. At the time, then CEO Bill McDermott saw it as a way to bridge the company’s core operational with customer data, while acquiring […] Continue reading SAP decision to spin out Qualtrics 20 months after spending $8B surprises industry watchers

Microsoft and AWS exchange poisoned pen blog posts in latest Pentagon JEDI contract spat

Microsoft and Amazon are at it again as the fight for the Defense Department JEDI contract continues. In a recent series of increasingly acerbic pronouncements, the two companies continue their ongoing spat over the $10 billion, decade-long JEDI contract spoils. As you may recall (or not), last fall in a surprise move, the DoD selected […] Continue reading Microsoft and AWS exchange poisoned pen blog posts in latest Pentagon JEDI contract spat

And then there was one: Co-CEO Jennifer Morgan to depart SAP

In a surprising move, SAP ended its co-CEO experiment yesterday when the company announced Jennifer Morgan will be exiting stage left on April 30th, leaving Christian Klein as the lone CEO. The pair took over at the end of last year when Bill McDermott left the company to become CEO at ServiceNow, and it looked […] Continue reading And then there was one: Co-CEO Jennifer Morgan to depart SAP

Xerox drops $34B HP takeover bid amid COVID-19 uncertainty

Xerox announced today that it would be dropping its hostile takeover bid of HP. The drama began last fall with a flurry of increasingly angry letters between the two companies, and confrontational actions from Xerox, including an attempt to take over the HP board that had rejected its takeover overtures. All that came crashing to […] Continue reading Xerox drops $34B HP takeover bid amid COVID-19 uncertainty

Activist investor Starboard Value taking three Box board seats as involvement deepens

When activist investors Starboard Value took a 7.5% stake in Box last September, there was reasonable speculation that it would begin to try and push an agenda, as activist investors tend to do. While the firm has been quiet to this point, today Box announced that Starboard was adding three members to the 9 member […] Continue reading Activist investor Starboard Value taking three Box board seats as involvement deepens

Pentagon asks court for time to reconsider JEDI award to Microsoft

The JEDI contract award process might never be done. Following legal challenges from Amazon after the Pentagon’s massive, $10 billion cloud contract was awarded to Microsoft in October, the Pentagon indicated in court documents last night that it wishes to reconsider the award. It’s just the latest plot twist in an epic government procurement saga. […] Continue reading Pentagon asks court for time to reconsider JEDI award to Microsoft

HP offers its investors billions in shareholder returns to avoid a Xerox tie-up

To ward off a hostile takeover bid by Xerox, which is a much smaller company, HP (not to be confused with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a separate public company) is promising its investors billions and billions of dollars. All investors have to do to get the goods is reject the Xerox deal. In a letter to […] Continue reading HP offers its investors billions in shareholder returns to avoid a Xerox tie-up

Rippling starts billboard battle with Gusto

Remember when Zenefits imploded, and kicked out CEO Parker Conrad. Well, Conrad launched a new employee onboarding startup called Rippling, and now he’s going after another HR company called Gusto with a new billboard, “Outgrowing Gusto? Presto change-o.” The problem is, Gusto got it taken down by issuing a cease & desist order to Rippling […] Continue reading Rippling starts billboard battle with Gusto

Amazon wants to depose president and Secretary of Defense as part of JEDI protest

Today, AWS made public its Motion to Supplement the Record in its protest of the JEDI contract decision. As part of that process, the company has announced it wants to depose President Trump and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. When Amazon announced at the end of last year, that it was protesting the DoD’s decision […] Continue reading Amazon wants to depose president and Secretary of Defense as part of JEDI protest