Jive Software Buys Proximal Labs
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 2011-04-13

Exclusive interview with Jive Software SVP of Engineering Brian Roddy and Proximal Labs cofounder and CEO David Gutelius; Jive is buying big data startup founded by David Gutelius and Lance Riedel.

John Furrier extracts the real deal behind the acqusition.
In August, Jive Software filed its S-1 with the Security Exchange Commission to trade on the NASDAQ as a publicly traded company. Prior to that, there had been word that the company would be doing an IPO late this year.

But now, here we are, with about a week until Thanksgiving and the December holidays coming soon. And there have been some interesting developments that create a picture of a company that is getting ready for something -- be it an IP or perhaps even setting itself up for acquisition.

Take these factors into consideration:

Jive  pulled out of Enterprise 2.0 as an exhibitor.
CEO Tony Zingale canceled a speech he was to give at Techonomy, a conference held earlier this month in Tuscon.
Jive brought its public relations in-house, letting go Bite Communications.
Our sources tell us that the IPO is planned for the second quarter of next year but realistically an acquisition is highly possible before an IPO happens. Possible acquirers that we are hearing about include Oracle, SAP, BMC and HP.

A Jive spokesperson said she could not comment about an IPO or what is planned.

The Jive story looked decent enough when in August the company filed its S-1. There were revenues but a lot of debt. In October, Jive amended the S-1. Debt had dropped and revenues were higher.

As a Forbes story pointed out in October, revenues were $20.8 million for the third quarter, up 69.1% from $12.3 million compared to a year ago. Revenues totaled $54.8 million for the first nine months of the year. "That's up up from $31.6 million in the year-ago period. Jive previously reported $34.0 million in revenue in the first six months of the year."

According to its filings for the third quarter, Jive had a $7.6 million net, unchanged compared to a year ago. That debt is sharply down sequentially from $16.1 million in Q2 2011. Jive reported a net loss of $38.1 million for the first nine months of 2011, up from a net loss $20.9 million in the year ago period.

Revenues are climbing but the numbers are not eye-popping. Debt is still a major factor.

Jive is still a paradox or me. As I pointed out in a post last year, I like its transformation into a company that helped companies build social business platforms. It has an active developer community. But on the other hand, the company turned to solutions. Solutions force customizations, which cost the client lots of money. Further, organizations need to rely on the company or its partners to perform the customizations.

I hope Jive goes through with its IPO. The company has its roots in Portland. It would be a boost to our Web startup community.  And it would be a validation for the Enterprise 2.0 movement.  As for joining a big technology company like Oracle or SAP?

Say it ain't so, Jive. Say it ain't so.