Informix to Buy Ardent

Informix Corp. agreed to buy Ardent Software Inc. for about $880 million in stock, in a move that would add software to track customer buying and product preferences to Informix’s database software. Ardent shareholders would get 3.5 Informix shares for each share of Ardent; the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2000. The deal should add to earnings, excluding merger costs, in 2000. Informix, which has had trouble competing against leading database software makers Oracle and IBM, is now looking to the Internet to shore up its fortunes. It is working to develop specialized data warehousing and business intelligence software. Ardent stock rose $5.50 to close at $31.75; Informix tumbled $1.34 to close at $9.66. Both trade on Nasdaq.