We have experienced, and anticipate that we will continue to experience, turnover at our senior management levels, which could harm our business and operations.

In July 1999, we announced the appointment of Jean-Yves F. Dexmier as a member of the board of directors and president and chief executive officer, while Robert J. Finocchio resigned his position as president and chief executive officer. Mr. Finocchio continues to be actively involved in our management in his capacity as the chairman of the board. During the past nine months, several of our senior executive officers have resigned, including our (i) vice president and treasurer, (ii) vice president, human resources and (iii) vice president, web and e-commerce division, all three of whom have since been replaced, as well as the vice president, corporate controller, who resigned when we replaced the corporate controller position with two controller positions, both of which report directly to our chief financial officer. Also, our vice president, corporate marketing, resigned effective December 31, 1999 and our executive vice president and chief financial officer, Howard A. Bain III, resigned effective March 20, 2000. It is possible that this high turnover at our senior management levels will continue and that other senior executive officers could also resign.

Of our senior executive officers and key employees, only Robert J. Finocchio, chairman of the board, and the former president and chief executive officer, is bound by an employment agreement, the terms of which are nonetheless at-will. In addition, we do not maintain key man life insurance on our employees and have no plans to do so. The loss of the services of one or more of our current senior executive officers or key employees could harm our business and could affect our ability to successfully implement our business objectives. Our future success will depend to a significant extent on the continued service of our current senior executives. If we were to lose the services of one or more of our current senior executives or key employees, this could adversely affect our ability to grow our business and achieve our business objectives, particularly if one or more of those executives or key employees decided to join a competitor or otherwise compete directly or indirectly with Informix.

Our executive team may not be able to successfully work together to meet its business objectives.

Since the beginning of 1998, we have expanded our ability to deliver products and solutions for the Internet, including e-commerce solutions, and business intelligence solutions driven by our datawarehouse technology. Our management team has not worked together for a significant length of time and may not be able to successfully implement this strategy. If the management team is unable to accomplish our business objectives, it could materially adversely affect our ability to grow our business. As noted above, Mr. Dexmier was appointed as the president and chief executive officer in July 1999. In addition, two new executive officers, the vice president and treasurer and the vice president, i.Intelligence Business Group, joined Informix in July 1999 and the vice president, human resources, joined Informix in October 1999. Almost all of Informix’s other executive officers have joined the company since the beginning of fiscal 1998.

We may not be able to retain our key personnel or, if we complete the acquisition of Ardent, to integrate and retain Ardent’s key personnel, which may prevent us from meeting our business objectives.

We may not be able to retain our key personnel, including certain sales, consulting, technical and marketing personnel, or attract other qualified personnel in the future. In addition, if we complete the acquisition of Ardent we may not be able to retain Ardent’s key personnel, including its current management. Our success depends upon the continued service of key qualified personnel. The competition to attract, retain and motivate these personnel is intense. We have at times experienced, and continue to experience, difficulty recruiting qualified software, customer support and other personnel. The loss of such key personnel could result in our inability to effectively develop, market and sell our products thereby harming our financial results.