Can you say ‘Oops!’?

Life is about making choices. Generally one tries to mak good ones and then stick with them. Sometimes, though, one has second thoughts. You can look back in regret, saying only if…, or you can try and act on those second thoughts before the decision is irreversible. Two good examples showed up in the press today, one of the former and one of the latter, from Marconi PLC and Kana Software respectively.

Marconi, a telecommunications company based in the UK, was approached for a merger that valued the company at about $35.8 billion nearly two years ago, according to an interview in the Financial Times with former company finance director and later chief executive-designate John Mayo. The company directors spurned the offer, with one director claiming “We didn’t give up on the beaches of Dunkirk, and we are not going to give up now.” Today the company stock is worth around $1.4 billion. You do the math, Bucky. If only…

Kana, running into major money trouble in this post-dotcom economy, arranged an infusion of cash from private investors. The business turned around a bit plus a reverse split was successfully engineered, Wall Street reacted well, and now the deal doesn’t look good. So the Kana directors are asking stockholders to reject the financing. The private investors are not thrilled but will get a consolation prize worth at least $4.5 million at today’s prices. Is it too late or will the directors be able to correct their mistake?