That thought leaves me cold …. I had shares in - and use - Aconex when Oracle bought them. The price was forced down from the $8 mark over the previous 12 months - then they sprung. Aconex was direct competition, and they swallowed them up for a pittance compared to the prospective value of the company.
Even worse, they have gutted the capacity of Aconex since … typical corporate cost cutting has seen the performance of the platform halve - the server access is now becoming woeful. Oracle get multiple benefits from one purchase, and now have no concern about the product, because there is NO competition to the Aconcex product.
In short, a few more years in Aussie hands and Aconex would have been worth many times more and still perform as it should. Australian shareholders ended up with a short term (contrived) windfall, to the sacrifice of much greater long term income.
I really hope that the same does not happen to Nearmap … I have been in this (through thick and thin) for years, and I hope to be in it for many more - eventually earning a good dividend from them.
Why should Australian management spend all those years getting it there, and Australian shareholders all the years backing it, for it to go for an early takeover and all the rewards go elsewhere?
We are only now seeing a tiny indication of the potential that NEA has … it is currently at a tiny percentage of its ultimate value. The share price has a long way to go yet, and I hope to be there for a hell of a lot more of that journey!
NEA Price at posting:
$3.02 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
