After publishing the Mentor-buys-Sierra rumor on Tuesday of last week, I got
this follow-up email from an EDA vendor on Thursday:

   Hi, John,

   In addition to the rumors that Mentor acquired Sierra, I also heard
   that Cadence bought ClearShape for $25 million.  I have no clue about
   their status and revenues, but if true I hope it's a good deal for them.

   Please, keep me anonymous.

This letter was from a first time source, so I just kept an eye on the story
until the next day when I had 2 other unrelated EDA people report in that
Richard Goering was calling around asking people if it was true that Cadence
had bought ClearShape for $75 million!

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MON, MAY 21ST, 8:47 PM -- From a source who's been accurate in the past:

  Hi, John,

  Congrats on the Cadence/CommandCAD call.  The only thing I heard that
  you missed was it went for under $5 million.

  With respects to the Cadence/ClearShape chatter, the number(s) that I
  hear kicked around are in the $100 million range.

  Keep me anonymous.

This $100 million figure seems interesting because it's in the same range
as the recently rumored Mentor/Sierra merger.  It's like everyone's handing
out $100 million dollar bills now for the serious acquisitions.

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WED, MAY 23RD, 6:46 PM -- In his blog, Richard Goering confirmed that he also
had heard the original $25 million that I had heard, but Goering laughed at
how it grew to $75 million and then $100 million.

    "Meanwhile, I think Atul Sharan should hang in there.  Maybe
     the price tag on his non-acquisition by Cadence will be up
     to $200 million by next week."

         - Richard Goering, EET 05/23/07

It seems like Atul, the ClearShape CEO, is now making boatloads of money this
week by just doing nothing!  That's a great job if you can get it.  :)