Who are SCO's 10 biggest customers, in terms of their
contribution to the last reported quarter's revenue?

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 22 Dec 2003 08:18 PST

Hello -

I checked with a VP at SCO; they do not release this information
publicly.  However, they did release 2 of them that would be in the
list.  From searching on the web, I've got estimates on another 4 that
"might" be on the list, and I might be able to come up with a few
more.  Would you be interested in this type of list?

jbf

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 23 Dec 2003 07:01 PST

I know SCO probably would not disclose this; that's why the 
price for this question is so high.  I'd be interested in
knowing "might-bes" only if there is some strong evidence I
can quote to establish that they are big customers.  

If the two names SCO released were Sun and Microsoft, that's not
very interesting, because those two are well known.  If it
were two companies not at all in the computer business (e.g.
General Foods), that would be more interesting.  Why were they
willing to tell you 2 names rather than 0?

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 23 Dec 2003 10:26 PST

You're correct in the first two -- they told me these because they
have a licensing agreement, and it's already publicly known.

Does your list have to be 10 items long, or can it include more (~20)?

jbf

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 24 Dec 2003 08:58 PST

Still there?  If you'd like, you can lower the price of this question
to $70 if you'd like me to furnish you with a general list of "big
customers."

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 24 Dec 2003 10:24 PST

Ok, deal, if the list is the top 20 biggest customers.

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 24 Dec 2003 11:58 PST

They are not necessary THE top 20 biggest customers; they are
customers that would probably fall in the list of the top X customers.
 Is this still OK?

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 25 Dec 2003 08:54 PST

Are they all at least customers?  Is there any evidence of their
bignesss as customers other than their bigness as companies?  E.g.
if GM is a customer, the fact that they are a giant company doesn't
imply that they buy a lot from SCO.

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 25 Dec 2003 11:47 PST

Combined (but with no overlap), three of the resources mention the
"significance" of 8 of them.  Include the 2 direct from SCO, and you
might have a rough top 10 list.  The others don't talk of the
significance directly.  However, in one article, the CEO is quoted as
saying that SCO caters to small to mid-sized businsesses.  This fact
could lend one to deduce that the bigger (in terms of their own size)
customers are typically going to do business at a higher level than
the average SCO/Caldera customer.  But this is just an inference.

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 26 Dec 2003 09:13 PST

I'm sorry, but this doesn't sound specific enough.  I can't
be sure, though, because I don't really follow you.  I'm
only interested in significance as software customers of SCO.
So Microsoft and Sun don't count.  

Of $25m in revenue in the last quarter, $14m was from software 
sales.  What I'm trying to figure out is who contributed
the biggest chunks of that $14m.

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 26 Dec 2003 09:20 PST

OK, to simplify, I have sources that say that 8 particular companies
are "major" or significant" customers of SCO.  I have another few that
are considered "spotlighted" retail customers of SCO.  None of them
speak of the actual revenues contributed.  I don't think you'll be
able to get actual revenu numbers.

If this information worth $60, you can lower your price to that.

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 26 Dec 2003 13:38 PST

Ok, sounds good.  I'll pay $70 for what you describe.  Thanks.

Bugbear -

If you choose to rate this answer, please do so after asking for any
necessary clarification or information.  Thank you for your
understanding.

Here is what I've extracted from the articles below.  I've made 3
groups of companies -- the first group contain companies that are
mentioned as being significant by being directly described as such
(i.e., "largest," "major," "biggest,").  The second group has implied
significance due to their being mentioned on the Caldera/SCO retail
web page.  The third group's significance is unknown, but due to some
of their revenue sizes, many would be classified as significantly
above SCO's target small-to-mid-sized business customer.  This *could*
indicate a higher level of patronage to SCO because of their sheer
buying power.  But because we don't know the breakdown of how many
small-to mid-sized customers make up SCO's bottom line, we can't know
what percentage these companies would be responsible for.


Some Indication of significance
???????????????????????????????
IBM
McDonald's
BMW
AST Computers
Cendant
First International Computer 
Ingram Micro 
MediaGold

Sources:

eWeek
http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,3048,a=8876,00.asp
"BMW, one of SCO's largest customers worldwide..."

Red Herring
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?f=articles/archive/ipo/2000/0322/ipo-caldera032200.xml
"Caldera's major customers include AST Computers, Cendant, First
International    Computer, IBM, Ingram Micro, and MediaGold..."

News.cm
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980514.html
"McDonald's is among SCO's biggest customers, recently increasing its
OpenServer license from 4,000 stores to 10,000 stores..."


??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????


Implied significance
????????????????????
Kroger Stores
Target 
Kmart
Sears
Metro AG
Carrefour
Intermarche
Kmart

Source:

Caldera
http://www.caldera.com/retail/
Six Top Ten Global Retailers as customers (direct from Caldera's/SCO's website)


??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????


No indication 
?????????????
Deutsche Bahn  
United States Army, 
Taco Bell
Ford
Comverse
National Westminster Bank
Compaq, 
Unisys 
Shopper's Drugmart
Nasdaq
H.O. Systems, Inc.
Incredible Technologies

Source:
"Compaq and SCO (now Caldera) customers include Intel, IBM, Deutsche
Bahn, the United States Army, Taco Bell, Ford, Kroger, Comverse,
National Westminster Bank, Compaq, Unisys, K-Mart, Shopper's Drugmart,
Nasdaq, H.O. Systems, Inc., and Incredible Technologies.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0EIN/2001_August_20/77321253/p1/article.jhtml

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????


Additional link:
SCO's target customers tend to be small-to-medium businesses and branch offices. 
http://www.techieindex.com/techie/interview/darl_mcbride.jsp

Search strategy:
"SCO's * customers"
"caldera's * customers"
customers caldera
customers SCO
"customers include" SCO OR caldera

As promised, thanks.

Researchers might want to take a look at
http://ir.sco.com/edgar.cfm

bugbear -

Anytime.  Thanks very much for the rating and tip!  Have a happy new year!

jbf