SCO, Canopy Mend Board Differences

The SCO Group’s chairman of the board solidified his
hold on the software company after a settlement was reached with venture
firm Canopy Group Friday.

Ralph Yarro, SCO chairman and former Canopy president and CEO, as well as two other former Canopy executives, sued the venture firm after they were sacked in
December 2004. They sought $100 million and the right to return to their
duties at Canopy.

Canopy’s executives countered with a suit of their own claiming Yarro, Darcy
Mott, a SCO director and former Canopy CFO, and Brent Christensen, former
Canopy corporate counsel, took more than $20 million in improperly acquired
compensation from the company.

As part of the settlement reached between the parties Friday, Yarro gains
direct control over nearly five-and-a-half million shares of SCO stock,
making him the largest shareholder in the company. The three former
employees will completely sever their relationship with Canopy, financial or
otherwise, and receive an undisclosed amount of cash.

Darl McBride, SCO president and CEO, said he is pleased to put the issue of
Canopy’s involvement in the company to rest and end any uncertainty that
might have been caused as a result.

“As SCO’s largest shareholder, we look forward to Ralph Yarro’s continued
leadership and guidance as chairman of the SCO board,” McBride said in a
statement. “We also look forward to Darcy Mott’s continued participation as
a SCO board member. We believe that SCO will benefit from their long-term
view of SCO’s shareholder value.”

SCO, facing delisting on the NASDAQ exchange, is currently involved
in a lengthy lawsuit against IBM . The maker of Unix-based
software products, SCO claims IBM violated its contract with the company by
releasing its licensed Unix code to the Linux kernel development community.