When last we gazed upon the ticking time bomb sitting under Citrix Online (home of GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting, among other products), I hazarded a guess that PGi was the most likely company to acquire the unit and technologies in a sell-off. That was back in July and nothing has happened. What could be causing such inaction when Citrix management had publicly alluded to a search for "strategic alternatives" for the division? The ongoing uncertainty can't be good for employee morale or strategic momentum.
Marc F. Beattie at Wainhouse Research has some ideas on that question. He points to the recently announced acquisition of PGi by Siris Capital Group. That's a huge transaction, costing about one billion dollars and changing PGi from a public to private organization. Beattie thinks that PGi is going to have to reduce concentration on standalone audio conferencing (how does a company make money with that anymore?) and advance their involvement in Unified Communications & Collaboration. More and faster technology/marketshare acquisitions will be key. Guess who just happens to be on the auction block for such a deal?
So the delay could be caused by nothing more than the acquirer itself getting acquired, and letting the ink dry on all the paperwork so that funds become available for the Citrix purchase. Of course we could both be wrong and the GoTo products could go to someone else or become their own independent business operation (wonderful for end users, but unlikely). Still, I wouldn't bet against the Siris/PGi/Citrix chain of events if I were putting money on the outcome.
