If it is wise, Netscape Communications Corp will exploit the ridiculous valuation the market has put on it shares by turning it into hard assets, and the Mountain View, California company has just started the process. It has agreed to pay $108.7m in shares for Collabra Software Inc, and plans to incorporate Collabra’s collaboration and messaging capabilities into future versions of Netscape Navigator and Netscape server products. Netscape declined to disclose any financial details about Collabra. Collabra was founded by Eric Hahn in 1993; he previously worked at Lotus Development Corp and was general manager of the cc:Mail division, which produced messaging products incorporated into Lotus Notes. The move by Netscape is seen as a challenge to Notes, because many people believe that the Internet could fulfil the same function as Notes more cheaply and easily: a firm will soon be able to set up a site on the World Wide Web and use that as a forum for exchanges of data. Netscape says that its acquisition of Collabra will facilitate the process.
