http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/technology/29deal.html By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and JOHN MARKOFF June 29, 2006 RSA Security, a pioneering digital security company, quietly put itself up for sale several months ago and is now near a deal with EMC or at least one other bidder, people involved in the auction process said last night. A deal, possibly worth more than $1.8 billion, could be reached in a few days, these people said. The company has a market value of $1.46 billion. RSA's board is expected to meet before the weekend to review final bids, these people said. They cautioned, however, that it remained possible that RSA could still decide against a sale. It could not be learned last night who was competing against EMC, the data storage giant. RSA, based in Bedford, Mass., makes physical security cards under the SecurID brand that are widely used in authentication systems at corporations around the world. The company is also active in developing antifraud technologies and a variety of encryption systems. RSA takes its name from the initials of its three founders: Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adelman. The three, who are academic researchers, are leading figures in the field of cryptography who developed an important algorithm in a technology known as public key cryptography. The company became a commercial success largely through the efforts of an early chief executive, Jim Bidzos, who became an outspoken advocate of commercial cryptography in the face of government opposition. He struck an early deal to use RSA technology in the Netscape browser. Today, the company has $322 million in annual revenue and $40.5 million in net income. RSA is widely known for sponsoring the RSA Security conference, a trade show and conference that has become the focus of the computer security industry. Shares of the RSA closed yesterday at $19.36, up 15 cents. _________________________________ Attend the Black Hat Briefings and Training, Las Vegas July 29 - August 3 2,500+ international security experts from 40 nations, 10 tracks, no vendor pitches. www.blackhat.com
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