Business Objects Wraps Up Crystal Decisions Deal

Business Objects SA has completed its $1.2 billion acquisition of enterprise reporting software vendor Crystal Decisions Inc. The buyout cleared its final hurdle Thursday when Business Objects stockholders approved the deal at the software company's annual shareholders meeting in Paris.

With the acquisition, first disclosed in July, Business Objects now has a customer base of more than 24,000 companies and annual sales of more than $800 million.

The buyout is key to Business Objects' efforts to expand its line of business-intelligence tools and applications. Companies that once bought and deployed business-intelligence software on a departmental basis now want to standardize companywide on software from a small number of vendors. That's pushing companies such as Business Objects to assemble broad business-intelligence product suites.

Business Objects will detail in early January its plans for combining the companies' operations and integrating their software product lines.

Business Objects CEO Bernard Liautaud, president and chief operating officer John Olsen, and CFO Jim Tolonen remain in those posts in the newly combined company. William Gibson, Crystal Decisions' chief operating officer, becomes senior VP of strategic alliances, while Susan Wolfe, Crystal Decisions' general counsel, becomes Business Objects' general counsel and corporate secretary. Andrew Handford, VP of products at Crystal Decisions, is Business Objects' new business-intelligence platform senior VP.