Borland changes course, will spin off tools group

15.11.2006
Instead of selling its tools unit as had been planned, Borland Software will spin off its Developer Tools Group into a wholly owned subsidiary, called CodeGear, the company said on Tuesday afternoon.

CodeGear will be responsible for advancing the four product lines formerly associated with the company's IDE business: Developer Studio, including Delphi, C++ Builder and C#Builder; JBuilder, including the upcoming Eclipse-based "Peloton" offering; Turbo and Interbase.

The planned selling of the tools group was announced . This move was made after the commoditization of IDEs, which was spawned by the open source Eclipse platform, had eroded the commercial IDE marketplace. Since then, Borland had spoken of the sale progressing and had set a September target date for the conclusion of the sale, but September came and went.

Borland did not get any offers it could not refuse.

"We've had a lot of interest in this asset from potential investors," said Tod Nielsen, Borland president and CEO. "We felt the offers we received did not correctly reflect the value of this product line," he said during a conference call on Tuesday afternoon.

Exact revenues for the tools group were difficult to calculate because it was tough to break them out in deals that involved products from multiple product lines, according to Rick Jackson, chief marketing officer at Borland. This calculation complicated efforts to sell the group. Borland had five "serious" suitors for the tools unit, Jackson said.