Informix Rumors from Wall St. Journal

This was in the Wall St. Journal On-Line service... For all to read! Dow Jones Newswires -- May 15, 1997 Informix Stock Fueled For 2nd Day By Takeover Rumors By Anthony Palazzo NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Informix Corp.'s (IFMX) stock rose sharply for the second straight day on renewed speculation that the troubled database vendor was headed for a takeover. The rumors were fueled Wednesday by an article by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Greenberg mentioning Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Netscape Communications Corp. (NSCP) as possible suitors. The stock jumped 10.9% on heavy volume Wednesday and continued to move Thursday, tacking on 1 1/16, or 11.6%, to 10 1/4 recently. Nasdaq volume of 6.7 million shares compares with average daily volume of 4.8 million. Officials at Microsoft and Netscape were not immediately available to comment. Calls to Informix were not immediately returned. Takeover rumors have swirled around Informix, a Menlo Park, Calif., database software firm that has been plagued by a host of troubles recently. The company has been losing market share to rival Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and has been hit by defections of key executives, including top sales people and its chief financial officer. It lost a whopping $140 million on charges in the first quarter, and shareholders have been suing the company, alleging it inflated its revenue with too-aggressive accounting techniques.