Rather than raising its bid, data storage giant EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC) says its offer to acquire Data Domain Inc. (NASDAQ:DDUP) for $30 per share, or $1.9 billion, is superior to the part-stock counteroffer made by NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP). NetApp first offered $1.5 billion, or $25 per Data Domain share, on May 20. EMC came in with its spoiler bid on Monday, which NetApp matched.

EMC doesn't think the bids match. Chairman, president and CEO Joe Tucci said, "We are proceeding with our superior cash tender offer, which is not subject to any financing or due diligence contingency." Tucci also urged Data Domain's board not to not take any actions that would further impede a deal. Data Domain's CEO Frank Slootman said how pleased he was with NetApp's new offer.

There's still the possibility that an EMC-Data Domain deal could face antitrust scrutiny due to EMC's stature in the data storage industry. NetApp's rationale for the deal is that it can bring to Data Domain a broader worldwide channel that will expand sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, and in enterprise accounts.

NetApp chief marketing officer Jay Kidd did a Q&A with Computerworld about EMC's entering the picture. EMC felt snubbed when the NetApp acquisition was announced, believing Data Domain should have been aware of EMC's interest in a deal.

In the Q&A, Kidd said of EMC's interest in Data Domain, "I do believe EMC is concerned enough about NetApp about a long-term competitor that they may do things that are not in the best interest of customers just to impede our progress." Kidd also goes on to talk about the strategy behind the deal, talent retention and more. And on the subject of NetApp poorly handling acquisitions in the past, he said the company has improved and pointed to the recent Onaro deal.

Data Domain provides a disk-based alternative to tape for data backup and archives. It achieved record sales growth in the past five years. - Baz Hiralal

Go to the Q&A

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