Deals
IBM Stagnant Sales Turn NetApp Into Target With Splunk: Real M&A
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International Business Machines Corp.’s plan to spend almost $15 billion on deals through 2015 is turning NetApp Inc. and Splunk Inc. into takeover candidates.
IBM finds itself looking for deals after sales increased just 0.8 percent in four years, the worst rate since the period that ended in 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors have taken notice, with its shares lagging behind those of rivals Oracle Corp. and SAP AG by the most in at least nine years in 2012, the data show.