According to the Wall Street Journal, merger and acquisition activity in the first quarter rose to $$5\mathrm{.}3$ billion. Approximately three$-$fourths of the $78$ first$-$quarter deals occurred between information technology $($IT$)$ companies. The largest IT transaction of the quarter was EMC$$s $$625$ million acquisition of VMWare. The VMWare acquisition broadened EMC$$s core data storage device business to include software technology enabling multiple operating systems $$ such as Microsoft$$s Windows, Linux, and OS X $$ to simultaneously and independently run on the same Intel$-$based server or workstation. Suppose that at the time of the acquisition a weak economy led many analysts to project that VMWare$$s profits would grow at a constant rate of $2$ percent for the foreseeable future, and that the company$$s annual net income was $$39\mathrm{.}60$ million