Role Reversal for a Pair of Shrunken Software Giants

The brothers of B2B are trading places.

Commerce One(CMRC Quote), the B2B software company that for so long has played second fiddle to Ariba, has suddenly leap-frogged its long-time rival. In both market cap and stock price, Commerce One has finally overtaken Ariba, which has been reeling ever since issuing a warning two weeks ago. And it's projected to outdo Ariba in revenue this year, as well.

That's a far cry from last summer, when Commerce One's market cap was a third of Ariba's $25 billion. Of course, both companies have seen their worth shrink from the double-digit billions to just above the $1 billion mark. ...