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Apparently That Groupe Bull Nastiness From 70 Years Ago Is Forgiven

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by Kevin Maney
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Nov 07 2007 12:00am EDT

Apparently That Groupe Bull Nastiness from 70 Years Ago Is Forgiven

Noted that among the guests at last night's White House dinner for French President Sarkozy was IBM CEO Sam Palmisano.

I asked Palmisano PR guy Ed Barbini how come. "He's a global business leader of a company with significant business operations in France and the US," Barbini wrote back via email. "I think he also knows Sarkozy a bit, though I'm not certain. I hear they had a very nice meal."

Back in the 1930s, IBM CEO Thomas Watson tried to buy what was then France's only real technology company, Groupe Bull. After a whole lot of nastiness, the buyout attempt was rebuffed by the French -- and then in the 1940s IBM sued Bull for patent infringements. The French apparently are not holding a grudge.

Anyway, in 1992 IBM finally bought a controlling stake in Bull, once Bull was basically all but dying.

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