Quarterdeck denies McAfee merger talk

Wall Street matchmakers trying to make marriages between Quarterdeck with McAfee, and Netscape with Borland, will be disappointed, the firms said.

Quarterdeck's stock was up yesterday and analysts cited rumours that the acquisitive McAfee was seeking to buy the company to make a utilities powerhouse. Quarterdeck, which itself is attempting to build up a widespread utilities and Internet tools armoury through acquisition, has been trading low recently and lost money in its most recent quarter. However, a spokesman said he was unaware of any purchase bids.

Netscape and Borland have been linked with merger talk, perhaps on the strength of their recent closeness relating to Borland's support of Netscape Open Network Environment (ONE) standard, but both denied any such plans.