Dieter recently wrote that Palm is laying off as many as 200 people worldwide. We reported today that CNBC's Jim Goldman had given Palm a thumbs down after hearing that Elevation Partners, Palm's huge financial backer, might be looking to unload its stake in Palm.
Palm Infocenter is reporting that as a result of that analyst report, Elevation Partners co-founder and Palm Board member Roger McNanmee, has released a statement reasserting their position. Mr. McNanmee stated that Elevation remains very excited about Palm's progress and next generation operating system and they have no plans to back out of their Palm investment. Below is the statement in full:
Elevation Partners is very pleased with the progress Ed Colligan, Jon Rubinstein and the entire Palm team are making. The Company's product pipeline, including a next generation operating system due out soon and a new device targeted for the first half of 2009, excite us enormously. Elevation supports Palm in taking the difficult but necessary steps required to migrate from legacy products. We have a very long-term investment horizon and have no plans to exit our investment in Palm.
Well, that sure is good to hear! I'm happy to know that Elevation Partners has that confidence in Palm. A company would have to have a lot of confidence in any company in which it invests $325 million anyway. I still have confidence in Palm and I can't wait to see what they bring to us in the first half of 2009.
