RALEIGH, N.C. - Shares of Red Hat Inc., the largest distributor of the Linux operating system, tumbled more than 7 percent Friday after a Wall Street analyst suggested that Oracle Corp. may soon introduce its own Linux products.
Red Hat's stock finished the day at $19.90, a decline of $1.59, after briefly falling below its 52-week low to $19.71 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The Raleigh-based company has had a volatile year because of rumors that Oracle could jump into the open-source Linux market. Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert wrote Friday that "our independent checks in the past two weeks indicate that Oracle seems to be close to introducing its own software 'stack.'"
