Straight from the rumor mill: some on Wall Street were yesterday playing with the notion that recently-troubled Computer Associates International Inc may be about to step in and snap up Chicago-based Platinum Technology Inc. The delicious irony that the latter company effectively copied the former’s strategy of growth, almost solely by acquisition in a paper-issuing spree from August 1994 to January 1996, and that both are now heaving for financial breath, may have caused the rumour more than any reliable leaks, we believe. Platinum Technology, jack-of-all- trades and master of none in some observer’s eyes, is in financial withdrawal following its pursuit of an end-to-end database and systems management solution: it’s been trailing red ink for the last three quarters, although analysts surveyed by First Call do expect the company to report earnings of $0.13 when it reports its end-of-year figures on Feb 17. In related news, it has emerged that Fujitsu’s UK-based subsidiary ICL quietly off- loaded a product it had once predicted would make great waves in the US market, security sign- on product Access Manager, to Platinum Technology for 2.2 million of its shares just before Christmas, according to SEC filings.
