SAP absorbs Business Objects for $6.8B

In another major consolidation of the enterprise software industry, Germany's SAP took the opportunity this past weekend to close a deal to acquire Business Objects for $6.78 billion. The deal was announced on Sunday, and was characterized by SAP CEP Henning Kagermann as a tangible step toward doubling the addressable market for enterprise software solutions by 2010. SAP, which has been expanding beyond its traditional ERP presence, appears to be in a foot race with U.S.-based Oracle to see who can end up with the lion's share of the market as it consolidates. Business Objects is a powerhouse in the business intelligence arena. Its 43,000 customers expands SAP's user-base to 78,000. The deal still has to be reviewed by the appropriate legal authorities. 

For all the news on the acquisition:
- read the article in InformationWeek