Ask Group Inc does not look too long for this world in its present form following the announcement that Pier Carlo Falotti, former European chief of Digital Equipment Corp and hired 18 months ago to steer Ask in the next phase of its development, has resigned. It is not clear whether he went voluntarily or was pushed by the board, but the most recent quarter’s figures, published last month, tell the story, with a $14m loss on sales down 11% at $100m and the shedding of 200 jobs. The Manman/X Unix manufacturing package has started to pick up sales, but the Ingres Corp acquisition has been little short of a disaster, and gossip in the industry has tagged the company as a tekeover target for months, with Computer Associates International Inc the name most often in the frame – there is some commonality between the Ingres and CA/Universe code bases. Any acquisition would be complicated by the fact that Electronic Data Systems Corp owns 20% of Ask – and must be pretty unhappy with its investment, and Hewlett-Packard Co holds 10%.
