Is VMware looking to purchase Red Hat?  Maybe so according to an MSNBC article posted yesterday.

At least for Red Hat, time for turnaround may be of the essence. Speculation is rife that the company is a takeover target. "It makes no sense that they're still hanging out there," says Eric Gebaide, a managing director at investment bank Innovation Advisors.

One possible suitor is virtualization software company VMware (VMW), which some industry executives says is on the lookout for an operating system to add to its portfolio. Former VMware CEO Diane Greene, ousted by her board in July, had set up meetings with Red Hat in part to position VMware as friendly to open source and possibly as a prelude to a buyout discussion, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Representatives of both companies declined to comment.

Read the entire article on MSNBC.