Fox Software Inc, to be acquired by Microsoft Corp for about $175m in shares, may be doing as little as $40m a year according to published reports, although as it is equally-owned by co-founders David Fulton and Richard LaValley, who will be made very wealthy as a result of the deal, it does not have to publish any figures: the company is thought to have about 10% of the desktop database market; Microsoft says that its planned Cirrus database is being designed to be gonzo-friendly and is only for Windows where FoxPro runs under a variety of operating systems; and Cirrus will be able to interrogate FoxPro; Borland International Inc’s shares plunged $7.25 to $63 on the news, but that was widely regarded as an over-reaction given that Borland has always had to compete with Microsoft, and that the acquisition will likely eliminate small rivals.
