CA Technologies
More info
- Creator
- Charles Wang, Russell Artzt
- Released
- 1976–2018
- Owner
- Broadcom (from 2018)
- Type
- Enterprise software
Computer Associates, the software company that grew by buying other people's products, laying off the staff and raising the maintenance fees.
Charles Wang and Russell Artzt started Computer Associates in New York in 1976 with a sort utility for mainframes. What followed was an acquisition spree without parallel: Cullinet, Legent, Platinum Technology, Sterling Software. Customers running mission-critical systems couldn't easily switch, and CA knew it. The industry joke was that CA was where software went to die.
Around the turn of the millennium the company booked revenue from contracts not yet signed by holding quarters open a few extra days — the so-called 35-day month. CEO Sanjay Kumar was sentenced to twelve years in prison in 2006. The company renamed itself CA, then CA Technologies, and was bought by Broadcom in 2018 for $18.9 billion.