Someone knew something - that's an insanely low valuation for a major player in the (then just starting) virtualization market.
But at the time virtualization was considered as something "to keep that old Windows NT server/software running" - not foundational for all cloud services ever.
As an IT industry analyst at the time, it may seem like a cheap acquisition today, but it was seen as pretty rich at the time. I'm not sure how many people appreciated how big a deal VMware was. My understanding is Diane Greene didn't want to sell but the VCs wanted their exit. And she was eventually pushed out when VMware hit it big and she was excessively chafing under EMC control.
Hmm.. EMC (which essentially was Smoking Joe T as the CEO for most its limelight years) did quite well with acquisitions, Data Domain, Isilon, VMware and many more smaller acquisitions. They never bought a company to inherit their cash flow but saw an opportunity to invest and grow their business by adding their amazing sales machinery which was stellar as well.
The Data General acquisition, which got them CLARiiON, arguably saved the company during the downturn--given that belt-tightening really hurt Symmetrix sales.
