Hit #30

It is official - Symantec (SYMC) is buying Veritas (VRTS)
for around $29/share (since it is mostly a stock swap, this will vary with Symantec's current share price). This price is a 55% premium over my average cost of $18.75/share paid for Veritas a few days after its shocking earnings warning earlier this year.

As I have said earlier, I do not like this merger and will be selling the Symantec shares that I get as part of the deal. The market also doesn't seem to like this deal and has punished Symantec by pushing down its shares some 20% since the deal was announced.

Another way to play this is to buy Symantec shares right now in the hope that the deal will fall through, pushing up Symantec shares in turn. I am definitely on the side wishing that this merger comes undone!

And I am still stunned by the absence of competing bids - HP, wake up!