"When we looked at the possibility of collaborating with Microsoft we got really excited about what we could do together," said Doug Burgum, Great Plains' chairman and chief executive. "Great Plains doesn't see this at all as selling out, but buying in."

The acquisition is structured as a stock purchase valued at about $1.1 billion. Each share of Great Plains common stock will be exchanged for 1.1 shares of Microsoft common stock. The deal, which is subject to regulatory review, is expected to close in the spring of 2001.

According to Microsoft, the acquisition of Great Plains will "accelerate the success of small and medium companies globally with integrated, extensible business management software solutions" needed to succeed in the "interconnected economy."

"From our viewpoint it is about having a shared vision and a shared commitment," said Jeff Raikes, Microsoft's group vice president of the Productivity and Business Services Group.

Once the acquisition is complete, Great Plains will become the Great Plains division of Microsoft, reporting jointly to Raikes and David Vaskevitch, senior vice president of the Business Application Division at Microsoft.

The Great Plains division will continue to develop, market and support its business management solutions, which includes eEnterprise, a business management solution for the mid- to upper-tiers of the midmarket; Dynamics, a solution for the lower-to mid-tiers of the midmarket; and Great Plains Siebel Front Office, a customer relationship management solution.  In the future, the division will provide new capabilities that complement Microsoft's online service, bCentral, for small companies.

Great Plains will continue to distribute its product line via its network of value-added resellers. The company has no intention of leveraging the products through Microsoft's sales force, said Great Plains' Burgum.

-- SmartPros News Staff

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