UNITED STATES
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SCHEDULE 14A
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META Group, Inc.
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Gartner, Inc.
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Filed by Gartner, Inc. Pursuant to Rule 14a-12 of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934
Subject Company: META Group, Inc.. Commission File No.: 0-27280
On December 27, 2004, Gartner, Inc. sent the following communication to its
employees.
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: All Gartner Employees
FROM: Gene Hall
DATE: December 27, 2004
RE: META Group Acquisition
I am delighted to share with you the news that Gartner, Inc. will acquire META
Group, a leading information technology research and consulting firm. I have
attached a copy of the press release on the announcement, which was issued this
morning, as well as a letter CD Hobbs, META Group's president and COO, sent to
META employees this morning.
This transaction makes great sense in our quest to grow and expand our business.
META represents an outstanding strategic fit with Gartner, with both companies
sharing complementary business models. In addition, the acquisition will provide
us with increased depth in key sectors, geographies and markets, as well as a
sales team from META Group that is already highly conversant in Gartner's
product and service offerings, further enhancing our ability to grow sales going
forward.
We are confident that our clients and shareholders will agree that this
acquisition will make Gartner a stronger, more broadly based company, and we are
eager to seize this opportunity to add to our team of talented professionals and
increase our sales coverage.
The success of this acquisition will depend upon our ability to effectively
integrate META 's products, services and - most importantly - associates. We
will announce a combined Gartner/META integration team shortly. By mid-January,
when that team is formed, you can look forward to regular updates, timelines and
FAQ's posted on Gartner at Work in a newly created section entitled "Integration
Update." In the following months, we look to all associates for ideas,
collaboration and support, as well as to maintain our keen focus on our 2005
revenue targets.
We expect that current and prospective clients and your day-to-day business
contacts will have many questions for you about this announcement. We will
provide you with guidelines on how to best answer those questions shortly.
In addition, there is likely to be a significant amount of media attention on
the announcement. Please be sure to refer any calls related to the announcement
from members of the press to Jamie Tully or Brooke Morganstein at our public
relations firm Citigate Sard Verbinnen. Their contact information is as follows:
Jamie Tully Brooke Morganstein
jtully@sardverb.com bmorganstein@sardverb.com
212-687-8080 212-687-8080
I want to personally thank each of you for your consistent, unyielding hard work
and effort. Your dedication and professionalism have allowed us to reach the
position we enjoy today, and will enable us to reach the ambitious goals we have
set for Gartner going forward
Meta Email to Employees
-----------------------
This morning Gartner, Inc. and META Group, Inc. announced an agreement under
which Gartner will acquire META Group. This is an extremely significant
announcement for our company, our customers and you, META Group employees.
Attached is a copy of a the press release on the announcement and letter Gene
Hall, Gartner's chief executive officer, sent to Gartner employees this morning.
Over the past several days, I have spent a considerable amount of time with Gene
Hall and the rest of the Gartner management team, who have conveyed their
enthusiasm for this transaction. The acquisition will create a stronger company,
with increased depth in key sectors, geographies and markets, which will allow
us to better serve clients and enhance growth opportunities going forward.
I know each of you would like to know more about this acquisition, and I believe
it is important that I share as many of the details of this transaction with you
as I can. We will seek to do this in as timely a fashion as possible. Due to the
holiday schedule, we will hold an employee conference in January, at which time
we will be able to communicate with you in more detail. In the meantime, I
encourage you to post your
questions with us by sending them to questions@metagroup.com, an email address
set up expressly for this purpose. We will address those questions that prove to
be top-of mind during the January meeting.
While this is exciting news, it is important to stay focused on our clients and
our markets as we move forward. I want to thank you all for your hard work and
dedication throughout this past year. I look forward to sharing with you more
detail about the transaction in the near future.
I hope you are having a safe and relaxing holiday season.
CD