Microsoft invests in rival Corel

For the second time in three years, Microsoft has made a large investment in a competitor. Microsoft said it has agreed to pay $150 million to competitor Corel, a major force in the anti-windows Linux movement and whose WordPerfect suite of business applications competes with Microsoft Office. Earlier, Microsoft invested $150 million in rival Apple Computer.

Under the deal, Microsoft will get 24 million shares (a 25 per cent stake) of Corel stock at $5.63 each. The two companies also will cooperate on developing applications based on Microsoft's Internet-based .NET online software rental initiative.

"We are pleased to announce this latest development in our relationship with Microsoft, and what we believe to be an important step forward in our strategy for long-term growth,'' said Corel's interim president, Derek Burney. Burney added that Corel has long recognized the potential of the Internet

to speed up the delivery of applications and services to customers worldwide.

Microsoft’s .NET program will enable Corel customers to access the WordPerfect tools on line. "Our most recent work has focused on strategies to move our applications, including CorelDraw and WordPerfect as well as our Linux distribution ... onto the Web. By leveraging Corel's development expertise and popular product line with Microsoft's .NET platform, we believe we have found a great combination to accelerate this process.''