Borland International’s share price plunged to a 52-week low of $7. 88 yesterday after its CEO and president Gary Wetsel stepped down amid news of dismal results for its first quarter ending June 30. Wetsel joined as CEO in January 1995, but stepped down yesterday after the software house said it would finish the year with revenues of $34m to $35m on losses of 53 cents to 56 cents per share. Borland outlined three main reasons for its financial woes. First, sales of its low end Delphi Desktop tools were weak; second, it blamed the slow corporate shift to Windows 95; and third, it suffered in the C++ market because it wasn’t shipping Microsoft foundation class libraries. Now Borland begins its search for a new CEO and says its first quarter results won’t lead it to change strategic directions. We’re moving forward and making the transition to a client server Internet tools environment and expect to unveil a number of Internet products this summer that we haven’t yet announced, the firm said. Next quarter Borland will take a $3m charge for its $64m purchase of Open Environment Corp, an acquisition which should be finalized this summer. With Open Environment Borland expects to expand its product reach up into the enterprise market. Meanwhile, rumors that Sun Microsystems Inc may be interested in buying the firm – a nice fit with Sun’s Java and Borland’s upcoming Latte visual development tool – have resurfaced on the back of its financial problems.
