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Jive Software jumps on report of fresh effort to sell the company [The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. :: ]
[March 11, 2014]

Jive Software jumps on report of fresh effort to sell the company [The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. :: ]


(Oregonian (Portland, OR) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) March 11--Shares of Jive Software (Nasdaq: JIVE) jumped more than 6 percent Tuesday morning on a report that Jive has hired an investment banker to try again to sell the business.

Jive's headquarters are in Palo Alto but its largest site is in downtown Portland, where the company employs about 250. Once a hot prospect for its software, which brings social networking tools to business communication, Jive has sagged in recent months as sales growth slowed -- raising doubts about when, or if, the company will post a profit.



Shares priced at $12 at Jive's 2011 IPO once traded above $27 as the fervor for social networking stocks grew in 2012. But shares have steadily declined since, dipping to near $7 earlier this year after another disappointing quarterly report.

The stock is at $8.85 this morning, up 54 cents -- 6.5 percent -- on Tuesday's news that Jive is again on the block. (Update: Jive gave back most of those gains, finishing the day up just 2.5 percent. Upon reflection, investors may not have been surprised that Jive was inquiring again about buyers, or they might have been put off by reports that potential suitors had already turned down the company.) The online trade journal Re/code reported that Jive has hired the investment bank Qatalyst Partners, led by Frank Quattrone, to shop the business. Re/Code said Jive had been pitched to at least three business software companies -- Oracle, SAP and Workday -- but that none had interest. Re/Code reported that Jive has been on the market for five months.


Bloomberg reported a year ago that Jive had been in serious talks to sell to SAP, a big European software company, but that SAP had called off those discussions.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; phone: 503-294-7699 ___ (c)2014 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Visit The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) at www.oregonian.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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