Tag: corel

Corel buys WinZip

Post ImageThe last time I wrote about Canadian software company Corel, I mentioned that they struck me as a company “without focus, or at least, too many different focuses.” But don’t take my word for it, just look at their most recent announcement. Larry Borsato explains:

Corel, the makers of all of that once great software that nobody uses now like WordPerfect, has acquired WinZip. I must have a sixth sense about this sort of thing because I stopped using WinZip a couple of months ago and switched to WinRAR.

I just got my new computer all setup this week (more on that later) and what do you know! Like Larry, I too only have WinRAR installed, no WinZip for me. Whew, that was a close one. Any idea why Corel would buy WinZip? I don’t see how it fits with their company…but maybe its just me.

Read: Larry Borsato

Corel to go public

Post ImageCorel is one of those companies that never seems to die, nor does it ever do anything amazing. As Seth Godin would say, they need a purple cow! The Canadian company (and I’ll be honest, the fact that they are Canadian is the only reason I care about this at all) has decided to go public, apparently to pay off some debts:

Canadian software maker Corel filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday for an initial public offering of up to 8 million shares at $18 to $20 a share.

Corel estimated that it would generate $82.9 million in net proceeds from the offering and an additional $90 million from a new credit facility. According to the offering document, Corel intends to use the combined proceeds to pay off $144.9 million in existing debt and financing fees.

The company strikes me as one without focus, or at least, too many different focuses. CorelDRAW and WordPerfect Office do not seem to be complimentary products. Seems to me there wouldn’t be a lot of synergy between the two. I guess what I mean is that there can only be one Adobe!

Read: CNET News.com