Bonum Certa Men Certa

What Novell's Financial Performance Means for Its Future

Here is a quick point-by-point roundup of the effects Novell's results are likely to have.

Buybacks



This report comes from CNN. Friday didn't treat Novell any better than Thursday.

Shares of Novell fell Friday morning after the business software developer swung to a fourth-quarter loss, partly because of the sale of a consulting unit.

Shares shed 25 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $6.85 after the opening bell.

[...]

"After a year of solid improvement across a number of fronts, we believe Novell (NOVL) needs to augment its progress by using part of its $1.3 billion in net cash for a buyback program, which would help accelerate earnings per share growth into 2008-2009 and create a support level for the shares," Materne said in a client note.


We mentioned buybacks on several occasions before, the context being Microsoft, Novell, and SCO [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Buybacks are of course a sign of weakness, no matter how companies want to characterise (spin) them.

Where is the UBS analyst who enthusiastically predicted growth? Analysts are paid to say what the companies which hire them want to be said.

Overhaul



The restructuring costs at Novell are yet to take effect.

Novell (NOVL 7.10) reported better than expected results for the fourth quarter; however, the business software maker also issued tepid guidance and said it expects to incur additional costs from its ongoing restructuring efforts, sending shares more than 9% lower in pre-market activity.


Layoff Costs



Here is the article from the 'local' press:

Layoff costs spur loss for Novell in fourth quarter

The job custs are part of a plant to improve profitability by moving work to less expensive countries such as India and selling more products over the phone and Internet. Novell said revenue this coming year will miss estimates because it is shifting some consuting work to partners.


There are quite a few typos in this article. Maybe they are just as sloppy as myself (poor habits of proofreading).

Savings and Debts



Motley Fool, which is affiliated with Microsoft, has this to say about Novell:

Novell has amassed enough cash that you start to wonder what it plans to do with the riches. But don't expect it to pay back debt any time soon; Novell made $23 million off its investments this quarter, and those senior debentures with a low, low 0.5% coupon rate don't mature for another 17 years.


Don't forget about Novell's ongoing (and prior) financial troubles.

Microsoft Dependency



Several months ago, when Novell filed its redacted disclosure, Larry Dignan concluded that Novell had become Microsoft dependent. Nothing has changed since. Here is the latest from Larry:

To be sure, Novell is still dependent on Microsoft. A year into Novell’s five-year agreement with Microsoft, the company has invoiced more than half of the $240 million deal. Novell has added 4,700 customers in the last year.


Chances of Novell escaping this deal with Microsoft are growing smaller by the day. Novell can, in some sense, be seen as Microsoft subsidiary.

Microsoft (SUSE) Coupons



In LinuxInsider, Novell's rise in sales is rightly described as "initial". It's all about the coupons, which are bound to run out.

"The Microsoft deal provided an initial boost to Novell's Linux sales, but what's going to allow it to position itself as a credible alternative to Red Hat is internal execution and a sharper focus," Tillman said.


Novell has been comparing its current quarters to previous quarters that predate the Microsoft deal. The next bunch of quarterly reports will therefore be particularly interesting to watch.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day