Borland: A Timeline
In November 1983 a start-up with Danish roots began selling a Pascal compiler for $49.95. IBM's own Pascal compiler was on its price list at $300. This video follows Borland from its start in Copenhagen to the pieces that survive in September 2026.
Turbo Pascal, written by Anders Hejlsberg and sold by Philippe Kahn from Scotts Valley, California, was followed by Sidekick, Turbo C and Turbo Prolog. Then Borland went after the giants: Paradox against dBase, Quattro against Lotus 1-2-3, and in 1991 the purchase of Ashton-Tate for about $439 million in shares. Lotus sued over Quattro's menus, and the case reached the US Supreme Court, which split 4-4 in January 1996.
Quattro Pro was sold to Novell in 1994 for $145 million. Kahn resigned as chief executive in January 1995, a month before Delphi launched. Microsoft hired Hejlsberg in 1996, and Borland sued in 1997 over 34 hires, settling that September. Then came the Inprise name (1998), a $125 million deal with Microsoft (1999), the return to the Borland name (2001), the sale of the developer tools to Embarcadero (2008) and Micro Focus buying the rest in 2009. OpenText bought Micro Focus in 2023.
Delphi is still sold, as part of RAD Studio 13.2, and Hejlsberg's TypeScript 7 shipped in July 2026. No figure appears without its date and source.
Educational documentary. Not financial or investment advice.
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Sources and credits
Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons)
- Philippe Kahn, Borland co-founder and CEO: unknown, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APhilippe_Kahn.JPG
- Scotts Valley, California, Borland's home town (aerial, 2005): User:DanDawson, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AScotts_Valley_California_20.jpg
- IBM PC 5150, the machine Borland's Turbo tools were sold for: Fried Dough, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AIbm_computer_pc_5150_%286049156797%29.jpg
- dBase installation disk - the product Borland acquired with Ashton-Tate: Asanagi, CC0 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADBase_Compiler_installation_disk_2025-03-01.jpg
- The Rehnquist Court, 1994 - the court that split 4-4 in Lotus v. Borland: US Supreme Court, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARehnquist_Court_in_1994.jpg
- US Supreme Court Building, Washington DC: USCapitol, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASupreme_Court_Following_Facade_Restoration_%2810542206014%29.jpg
- Microsoft campus, Redmond, Washington (aerial, 2009): Jelson25, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAerial_Microsoft_West_Campus_August_2009.jpg
- Embarcadero RAD Studio XE2 World Tour event, 2011 - Delphi under its later owner: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, CC0 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARADStudioXE2WorldTour.jpg
Primary sources
- Wikipedia, 'Borland' () and DOS Days, Borland history - Borland Ltd, August 1981, Jensen, Henriksen and Glad; CP/M software; Borland International May 1983; BYTE advertising.
- Danish Data Society, datamuseum.dk wiki, Borland entry - Midas (1979), Irish shelf company Borland Ltd (1982), Danish company owned by Jensen, Glad, Henriksen and Lars Frid Nielsen.
- Wikipedia, 'Philippe Kahn' - ETH Zurich, Niklaus Wirth, arrival in the US without a work permit; Starfish Software 1995; Wikipedia, 'Starfish Software'.
- Embarcadero blog, '40 years of Turbo Pascal', November 2023 - 20 November 1983, $49.95; Wikipedia, 'Turbo Pascal' (Compas Pascal, Poly Data).
- IBM price list, 8 March 1983 (WinWorld forum transcription) - IBM Pascal Compiler $300.
- MicroTimes, June 1985, interview with Philippe Kahn - 15,000+ copies in four months, ten times that within a year.
- Borland IPO prospectus - Sidekick over 1 million copies in three years; revenue FY1984 $10m, year to March 1987 $29.2m. Wikipedia, 'Borland Sidekick', 'Turbo Prolog', 'Turbo C'.
- New York Times, 10 July 1987 - Ansa Software (Paradox), about $29m in stock; completed September 1987; Paradox $725. Wikipedia, 'Quattro Pro'.
- UPI, 'Borland to acquire Ashton-Tate', 10 July 1991, and 'Borland completes Ashton-Tate acquisition', 11 October 1991 - $439m, $17.50 a share, revenue $226.8m and $230.5m, about 400 layoffs, Torrance to close within four months.
- US Department of Justice, US v. Borland International and Ashton-Tate, consent decree and competitive impact statement, October 1991 - about 60% of a roughly $200m 1990 US market; no suits over dBase commands and menus.
- dBase, 'History of dBase' (dbase.com) - dBase IV October 1988, released early and with faults; Wikipedia, 'dBase' - dBase for Windows, August 1994.
- Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International, 49 F.3d 807 (1st Cir., 9 March 1995); 516 U.S. 233 (16 January 1996), affirmed by an equally divided court, Stevens not participating. Oral argument 8 January 1996 per Oyez.
- International Directory of Company Histories, 'Borland International, Inc.' (encyclopedia.com) - net loss $110.4m, fiscal 1992.
- Borland Form 10-K/A (SEC EDGAR) - Quattro Pro sale $145m: $110m product line, $35m Paradox licences; NYT and Roanoke Times, 22 March 1994; UPI, 27 June 1994.
- Spokesman-Review (wire services), 12 January 1995 - Kahn resigns as president and CEO, Wetsel president Borland Form 10-K, 1996 - Kahn chairman until January 1996.
- Embarcadero blog, David Intersimone, on the Delphi launch - 14 February 1995, 7pm, SD West, San Francisco; RTM 15 February 1995. Microsoft, 2001 press release - Hejlsberg original author of Turbo Pascal, chief architect of Delphi, chief designer of C#.
- Borland Form 10-K/A for the year to March 1996 - revenue $215.2m, net income $14.3m.
- Seattle Times and EE Times, May 1997 - suit filed 7 May 1997, Santa Clara County, at least 34 staff in 30 months; Yocam quotation. Tech Monitor, 9 May 1997 - the suit's allegation of a $3m signing bonus for Hejlsberg. Microsoft, 19 September 1997 - settlement, terms confidential.
- Microsoft, 26 June 2000 - C# announced; Microsoft TypeScript blog, 1 October 2012 - TypeScript unveiled (Hejlsberg's role per Wikipedia, 'Anders Hejlsberg').
- Tech Monitor, April 1998 - Inprise rename; ticker INPR from 5 June 1998. Inprise Form 8-K, June 1999 - $25m Series C preferred plus $100m = $125m; Fuller quotation. Borland Form 8-K, January 2001 - Borland Software Corporation from 22 January 2001, ticker BORL.
- Borland Form 10-K for 2000 - revenue $191.1m, net income $20.7m, about 934 employees at 2 March 2001.
- Network World, 8 February 2006 - IDE sale plan and Segue purchase (about $100m) the same day; Computerworld, 14 November 2006 - CodeGear.
- InfoWorld, 7 May 2008 - Embarcadero to buy CodeGear for $23m; RTTNews, 30 June 2008 - closed at about $24.5m; The Register - $150m originally sought.
- Borland Form 8-K, results for 2008 (February 2009) - revenue $172.0m, net loss $215.7m.
- InfoWorld and The Register, 6 May 2009 - Micro Focus offer, $1 a share, about $75m including cash; ESJ, 1 August 2009 - $1.15 rejected, $1.50 agreed; Borland Form 8-K, 27 July 2009 - merger completed.
- OpenText, 31 January 2023 - Micro Focus acquisition completed, about $5.8bn including cash and debt.
- The Register, 7 October 2015 - Idera buys Embarcadero. Embarcadero blog (Marco Cantu) - RAD Studio 13 Florence 10 September 2025, 13.1 on 19 March 2026, 13.2 on 17 September 2026.
- InfoWorld, 5 January 2026 and 6 July 2026; TIOBE index, September 2026 - Delphi 9th (1.98%), out of the top ten in July, 13th (1.08%).
- Anders Hejlsberg, 'A 10x Faster TypeScript', Microsoft, 11 March 2025; Microsoft TypeScript blog (Daniel Rosenwasser), 8 July 2026 - TypeScript 7.0, 8x-12x faster, VS Code 11.9x; The Register, 9 July 2026.
- Novell, 'Corel Acquires WordPerfect Software Products', January 1996 - Quattro Pro to Corel.
Not regulated financial advice.