SCO seeks to auction off assets

SCO plans to auction off its OpenServer product line and Mobility Assets mobile business division

SCO has asked a bankruptcy court to allow it to auction off its core assets in order to raise enough operating capital to finish its legal battles.

The plan is to sell off its OpenServer product line and Mobility Assets mobile business division using a public auction. The company claimed that investment groups have already expressed interest in buying the assets.

"We believe that this approach will maximise customer and shareholder value, and expedite the investor process," said Jeff Hunsaker, president and chief operating officer of SCO operations, in a statement.

"One goal of this approach is to separate the legal defence of our intellectual property rights from our core product business.

"The auction process is expected to ensure that the future revenue from the OpenServer and mobile businesses stays with those assets, and provides an uninterrupted path forward for our customers, products and employees."

If the court does not approve the plan, SCO said that it will continue in business as usual, and save money by cost cutting and releasing new products.

The company plans to release SCO Unix Virtual product lines for VMware and Hyper-V to support legacy SCO applications, and expects to ship FCmobilelife and FCtasks for the iPhone.

"This is an important step forward in emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy," said Darl McBride, chief executive of The SCO Group.

"Following the adverse summary judgement ruling in August 2007 in the Novell litigation, SCO was forced to protect its business, shareholders and customer base.

"Since then we have worked diligently to prepare a plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection and move our products and customers forward. We believe this plan helps us reach that goal."