Siebel sees growth in swap revenue

Siebel Systems' revenue from swap deals with suppliers nearly tripled in its second quarter, the software maker reported last week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the document, Siebel earned $30.7 million in the three months ended June 2 for deals in which the company had purchased goods or services from vendors within six months of licensing software to them. That's up from $12.2 million in the year-ago period. In July, Siebel announced job cuts and reported a smaller-than-expected second quarter profit of $29.8 million on sales of $405.6 million, a 28 percent drop from the year before. Software revenue dropped almost 41 percent to $170.1 million on weak corporate technology spending.