Latest Channel M&A: OpenText, HPE, Microsoft, Dell, More

Mitel bought a UCC services business. HPE purchase a startup focused on machine learning. Our latest monthly M&A roundup features an array of diverse businesses and agreements, including those by Microsoft and Dell.

For example, take OpenText. The company is acquiring Micro Focus for $5.8 billion, but laying off 8% of the OpenText workforce. This was the only company we feature this month (and forgive the expression) killing two birds with one stone. However, as one analyst said, “I expect that the process of reconciling the product portfolios [of the two companies] will be one of the more complex efforts we’ve seen in some time.”

That acquisition might seem drastic, but other organizations are in the running for even more dramatic moves. Elliott Management, an activist investor well known in the technology sector, has made a “multibillion-dollar investment” in Salesforce. The hedge fund pushes its portfolio companies to make powerful changes to increase shareholder value. We’ll be keen to watch what happens at Salesforce in the next few months.

As for Dell‘s acquisition of Israeli startup Cloudify, it seemed relatively drama-free. That said, the company was a little vague about how much it paid for the company. Estimates put the deal in a range from $70 million to $100 million.

See our roundup, featuring Microsoft, Dell, HPE, Mitel and more, in the slideshow above. Catch the previous edition here.