Novell made a name for itself in the 1980s with its once dominant NetWare network operating system but in recent years has struggled financially as it attempted to establish leadership in markets from open source software to workload management. Novell has strung together eight straight quarters of year-over-year revenue declines.

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The company in March rejected a $2 billion takeover offer by New York hedge fund Elliott Associates. at the time that the offer undervalued Novell’s “franchise and growth prospects.” (Though Elliot does become an equity shareholder in Attachmate under the new deal.)

at not selling out in March, arguing the company wasn’t worth $2 billion anymore.  But others said Novell should hold out, given that it had assets at the time worth $1.82 billion. It would appear Hovsepian has been proven correct, given the value of the current purchase agreements: Attachmate's offer is for $6.10 per share vs. Elliott's $5.75 per share bid.

Recently, rumors circulated that to bolster its offerings vs. Red Hat Software.