Siebel CEO Gives Back Options
As Siebel Systems reported sliding sales and a fourth-quarter loss last week, the companys founder and CEO, Tom Siebel, said he had given back options to buy nearly 26 million shares of Siebel stock.
The value of the shares to Tom Siebel would have been about $56 million. The CEO, who has taken a salary of $1 per year for the past two years, has sold more than $950 million in company stock since 1996, according to published reports.
As a result of returning the options, Siebels stake in the company fell from 13.5 to 10.7 percent.
Siebel Systems also announced the retirement of President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Wahl, effective at the end of this quarter.
Forrester Buying Rival Consultancy
High-tech advice company Forrester Research last week said it is acquiring rival Giga Information Group in a stock deal valued at $58 million to $62 million.
Giga has 275 employees and will bring 900 new clients to Forrester. Officials at Forrester, which laid off some staff last year, did not say how many of the Giga employees it will pick up.
Giga President and CEO John Andrews is expected to join Forrester.
The deal could close as early as next month, contingent on how many Giga shareholders accept the offer. Regardless, it is expected to close next quarter.
Raytheon Shields Storage Patent
Raytheon is alleging that major IT companies including Oracle and Veritas infringed on the companys patent on a mass data storage library.
Also named in the suit, which was announced last week, are QLogic, Brocade Communications Systems, Overland Storage, Qualstar, Ricoh and Spectra Logic.