After a recent high-profile buyout announcement in the same sector, it may be time to kick the tires of long-time underperformer, but cash rich small cap SourceForge, Inc. (Nasdaq:LNUX).

In mid-May, online tech news and information provider CNET Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:CNET) agreed to be acquired by CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS) for $1.8 billion. The price paid for CNET represented a hefty 45% premium over its stock price the day before the deal was announced. The CBS take-out of CNET followed months of pressure by a group of CNET shareholders to sell the large, but struggling, company. The CNET announcement could place pressure on the remaining, small publicly held Internet media companies to find merger partners.

One such name is $92 million SourceForge. Formerly known as VA Software Corporation, SourceForge changed to its new corporate name last year after the sale of its software business to CollabNet. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s remaining operations include its namesake SourceForge.net website, which hosts more than 170,000 open source software projects. SourceForge also runs IT community and news-focused websites Slashdot.org, Linux.com, FreshMeat.net, ITManagersJournal.com and NewsForge.com. SourceForge also operates a niche e-commerce operation called ThinkGeek.com. All told, SourceForge claims that its network of websites reaches 32 million unique visitors each month. 
 
While SourceForge has a strong position in a valuable segment of the online media space, serving technology professionals and enthusiasts, it has been unable to translate this position into sustained profits. SourceForge management has attracted a reputation in recent years for unfulfilled promises and missed guidance. After SourceForge reported another quarter of disappointing results at the end of May, Trivium Capital, the company’s second-largest shareholder, called on SourceForge to either seek strategic alternatives or announce a significant stock buyback. Trivium pointed out that SourceForge, as of the most recent quarter, was sitting on a cash position of $0.82 a share with “possibly” another $0.10 a share in value from its stake in CollabNet. On Monday, SourceForge established a new 52-week low . . .

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