Re: Microsoft to announce buyout of Informix

In <336fce3d.4335614@nntp.ix.netcom.com> regnery@ix.netcom.com (George Matthew Regnery) writes: > >On 6 May 1997 21:33:59 GMT, "Stephen Barrett" <smb@mindspring.com> >wrote: > >>Why wouldn't the SEC allow it? The reason the Intuit deal was blocked was >>because the only 2 real competitors in that market is Intuit's Quicken and >>Microsoft Money. Microsoft would have had a monopoly. Why wouldn'y >>Microsoft be able to buy Informix? Microsft and Informix products don't >>compete directly. MS Sql Server doesn'y compete at the same level as >>Informix. If Microsoft bought Informix, then it would be the big 3, i.e. >>Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft. This would only increase competition which >>would benefit everyone. > >I think it was the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and not the >Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that blocked the deal. >Microsoft would have had the largest market share (there are smaller >competitors, and barriers to entry aren't that great), but it wouldn't >have been a total monopoly. > My error, definitely not the SEC. Either the FTC or the Justice Department, seems like Janet Reno had her hands in it. dp