British-born Firefox Communications Inc, lately of Solihull in the West Midlands, latterly of San Jose, did not last long as a quoted US company. Floated on Nasdaq last year, it has agreed to be acquired by hungry Andover, Massachusetts-based FTP Software Inc in a one-for-one share exchange valued at between $80m and a maximum of $100m, above which the share ratio will be adjusted. $100 represents a $14.50 share price; FTP is currently trading at $12.125, all of which makes TCP/IP software specialist the first big Internet disappointment: it got its initial public offering away at $18 a share on the back of Internet hype, having originally set a $10 to $12 target. The combination plans to develop products in the areas of communications groupware, collaborative applications and messaging systems.John Kimberley, chairman and chief executive of Firefox, will join the FTP board and serve as vice chairman of FTP Software and executive vice-president of the Firefox Business Unit.
