Internet commerce software house Open Market Inc has agreed to acquire Acton, Massachusetts-based FutureTense Inc, a four-year- old content management tools vendor. In a deal worth around $125m, Open Market will issue FutureTense shareholders with 7.2 million shares of outstanding common stock, and convert options to acquire FutureTense stock into options to acquire 1.1 million shares of Open Market stock.
FutureTense’s Internet Publishing System is used for the development, production, delivery and maintenance of large, dynamic web sites, and it is used by companies such as Chase Manhattan Bank, the New York Times, Netscape Communications Corp and the Washington Post. It includes elements of content acquisition and management, workflow design and content publication management. Open Market says its Transact, LiveCommerce and ShopSite e-commerce products already have the hooks needed to integrate with IPS.
Ron Matros, president and CEO of FutureTense, will join Open Market as president and chief operating officer, and chief technology officer and co-founder BC Krishna will join as Open Market’s chief technology officer. The acquisition will be accounted for as a pooling of interests, and is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter.
Last month, Open Market spun off the electronic document management and publishing company Folio Corp, which it acquired back in February 1997 for $45m. It set up a strategic relationship with Provo, Utah-based ABSB LC, a company backed by private investors and headed by Brad Pelo, one of Folio’s original founders. ABSB will launch a new Folio product distribution business under a new company name, and has agreed to pay Open Market a minimum of $14m in royalties over the next three years. After that time it will have the option to retain all rights to the product for fair market value.
