Borland International Inc, the Scotts Valley, California-based software supplier, had promised to announce its year to March 31 figures yesterday, after several false alarms, but they arrived after we closed. The figures, which promise substantial operating losses for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year, and substantial restructuring charges, have been delayed by complexities associated with the sale of its Quattro Pro product line to Novell Inc, the acquisition of ReportSmith Inc and the restructuring of its US and international operations. The figures will reflect a period of massive upheaval for the company, as it shed 20% of its European and 14% of its US workforces, and saw the resignations of senior vice-president for finance and operations, Alan Henricks, senior vice-president for worldwide sales, Doug Antone, and managing director of UK operation, Rikke Helms. The period also saw the disposal of the Borland Office Integrated package as they sold QuattroPro to Novell Inc. This deal includes 1m copies of Borland’s new Paradox for Windows database as part of Novell’s suite package. Though Borland mainatins that 90% of Paradox sales are as a stand-alone product, the deal appears to seriously compromise the company’s potential market. Borland has totally reorganised its company structure to operate under chief operating officer Keith Maib, who has moved from Price Waterhouse restructuring and turnaround, and chief product and research and development officer, Ken Gardner, founder of the just-acquired ReportSmith Inc. As everything will pass through these two, Maib believes all of Borland is marching down the same path and the company will avoid the confusion which has so damaged its credibilty. Maib regards the lack of profitability as a result of faulty execution rather than a failure of product or technology and hopes the simplified structure will give a substantial amount of empowerment and communicaton within the company as it focuses on its core strengths. Maib regards himself as an engine of change and the casualties were generally the people who got the company into the state it was. For Maib the implementation (of the changes) has exceeded all expectations and coupled with the $145m from the sale of QuattroPro, he believes that the company now has the time, money and resources to transition into a new product category, the client-server computing world, where Maib believes Borland’s future to lie.
