PRESS: Informix in the News
List of Informix related articles. Format: PUBLICATION "Article Name" Summary of Article [Date, Location in Publication, Author] Informix in the News --------------------------------- (02/20/98) REUTERS "Informix Back From the Dead?" Upon rumors of a better-than-expected fourth quarter prior to the earnings announcement, shares of Informix increased as much as 21 percent. Analyst James Mendelson of SoundView Financial Group said that investors were expecting the company to begin turning around, and that there was speculation Informix would report a profit for the fourth quarter. (staff writer, 2/9/98) INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY "Informix Chief: Database Storm Will Soon Pass" Informix CEO Bob Finocchio disagrees that the database business is slowing, and is demonstrating that by Informix's focus on its core database business. He sees areas such as high-performance databases, Web and content management, and data warehousing as strong growth areas for Informix and the database industry. Finocchio also downplayed the Asia crisis' effect on Informix, stating that he sees "vibrancy in Asia as measured in applications actually being deployed and software installed." (Michele Hostetler, 2/10/98) TECHWEB NEWS "Techs Mixed as Broader Markets Take a Breather" Although Wall Street expected Informix's fourth quarter earnings report to show a loss of 14 cents a share, Informix shares increased in trading prior to the actual earnings announcement. (Gabrielle Jonas, 2/11/98) INTER@CTIVE WEEK ONLINE "Informix Says it Beat the Street in its Fourth Quarter" Informix announced a profit of $9.2 million on revenues of more that $181 million, surprising Wall Street which had anticipated a loss. Revenue for the quarter improved 21 percent over the previous year's fourth quarter. CEO Bob Finocchio was quoted saying, "Although our work is far from complete, we have made progress on our way toward building the new Informix." (Larry Barrett, 2/11/98) Additional Coverage: INFOWORLD ELECTRIC "Informix Posts First Quarterly Profit Since 1995" (Paul Krill, 2/11/98) BLOOMBERG "Informix Reports Better-Than-Expected Profit on Cost Cuts" (Duncan Martell, 2/11/98) BLOOMBERG "Informix Shares Rise After Reporting Surprise Profit" Analyst Bruce Raabe of Collins & Co. and James Pickrel of Hambrecht & Quist rated Informix a 'buy' after Informix announced a profit in the fourth quarter. (Duncan Martell and Anthony Effinger, 2/12/98) DOW JONES NEWS SERVICE "Investors Impressed With Growth in Informix 4Q" (Mark Boslet, 2/11/98) REUTERS "Informix Reports Unexpected Profit" (Kourosh Karimkhany, 2/12/98) ABCNEWS.COM "Informix Informs: Unexpected Profit" (Reuters, 2/12/98) WIRED NEWS "Informix Reports Unexpected Profit" (Reuters, 2/12/98) C/NET "Informix on the Road to Recovery" Informix's profits were a result of successfully controlling costs and forging partnerships with telecommunications, hardware, software, and integrated systems providers. MetaCube ROLAP Option 4.0 is cited as an example of Informix's focus on core technologies associated with relational databases. (Suzanne Galante, 2/12/98) SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS "Informix Posts Profit" (Jodi Mardesich, 2/12/98) SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "Informix Surprises the Street" (Jamie Beckett, 2/12/98) WALL STREET JOURNAL "Informix Corp.: Preliminary Results Show Net Income of $9.2 Million" (staff writer, 2/12/98) SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER "Informix Reports Surprise Quarterly Profit" (staff writer, 2/12/98) LOS ANGELES TIMES "Informix to Report Unexpected Profit" (staff writer, 2/12/98) WALL STREET JOURNAL "Tech Stocks: Silicon Meets the Street" Informix shares gained 20% to close at 8 27/32 after reporting a profit for the fourth quarter. Analyst James Pickrel of Hambrecht & Quist stated, "Informix has launched on of the most startling comebacks from one of the most severe falls in the software industry." Other analysts, such as Alex Kotlyar of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and John Faig of PaineWebber were more cautious, each saying that Informix needed to continue on this path before they could be credited with a comeback. (Lisa Bransten, 2/13/98) NEW YORK TIMES "Informix Corp. Reports Earnings for Qtr to Dec. 31" (staff writer, 2/13/98) LOS ANGELES TIMES "Blue Chips Roll to 3rd Straight Record High" Following its fourth quarter earnings announcement, Informix shares jumped $1.47 and was the most active stock in US trading. (staff writer, 2/13/98) TECHWEB NEWS "Techs Slip as Broader Markets Move Lower" (Larry Dignan, 2/13/98) INFORMATIONWEEK "Informix Posts 4Q Profit" (John Foley, 2/16/98) INTER@CTIVE WEEK "Informix CEO 'Bullish' On Company's Future" In a Q&A, CEO Bob Finocchio emphasized Informix's focus on the core database market and the growth they see in the high-end market. He faults multi-year licensing deals for many of the troubles which have plagued Informix, Oracle and Sybase. (Connie Guglielmo, 2/13/98) CBS MARKET WATCH "Analysts See No Growth at Informix" In spite of positive fourth quarter earnings, some analysts disagree with Informix's focus on the core database market. First Albany analyst Rob Tholemeier and BT Alex Brown analyst Randy Chin both feel that Informix needs to diversify to include applications in order to remain competitive. Chin also attributed Informix's stock increase to speculation that they would be more attractive for potential take-over after posting a profit. (Brenon Daly, 2/17/98) INFOWORLD "Informix Delves into Middleware Market" Informix is planning to announce a strategy to position its object-relational database as middleware for transaction processing. The plan will emphasize that the UDO option for Informix Dynamic Server can support transactional, multitier applications. Aberdeen Group analyst Wayne Kernochan predicted that Informix would likely focus on reaching a new audience which is interested in Internet applications. (Paul Krill, 2/17/98)