*By Michael Teich* Cloudera may be confident the completion of its merger with cloud rival Hortonworks will create a powerhouse that can challenge Amazon, but investors have been difficult to convince. "It has definitely been a challenge in the early days and look, I think the marketplace is in a little bit of a Missouri state of mind: a show-me state," said Cloudera's chief marketing officer Mick Hollison in an interview on Cheddar. "The market is simply looking for us to demonstrate the synergies that we told them would occur on the backside of this merger, and we are very early in that process." Shares of both Cloudera and Hortonworks have declined sharply since the deal was announced in October. But Hollison is optimistic that Wall Street will reward shareholders once the benefits of joining forces begin to develop and mature. Marketing costs have put a strain on both companies. Collectively, they spent more than 55 percent of revenue on sales and marketing in the previous three quarters. Cloudera expects the deal will reduce the costs associated with trying to convince customers to work with them, and not Hortonworks. "It is very, very apparent right out of the shoot that we have great financial benefits by bringing the two companies together and those are already being experienced," Hollison said. "We've already said to the public markets that we are looking out in to calendar 2020 as being a year we would approach the $1 billion mark in revenues, that we would see somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 percent top-line growth and more importantly, 15 percent operating cash-flow." There is tough competition in the cloud space, particularly from Amazon ($AMZN). Cloudera sees the merger as a way to improve its value-proposition against the tech giant. "It is both hybrid and multi-cloud, meaning you can run it on premises, or you can run it on any one of the public cloud providers: Amazon, Google ($GOOGL), Microsoft ($MSFT) etc.," Hollison said. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cloudera-bolsters-cloud-offering-with-completion-of-hortonworks-merger).

Share:
More In Business
Al Sharpton to lead pro-DEI march through Wall Street
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
A US tariff exemption for small orders ends Friday. It’s a big deal.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines’ new policy will affect plus-size travelers. Here’s how
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Load More