Oracle To Buy Sun For $7.4 Billion…. Take That IBM!
It seems that somebody wants Sun, and that somebody is Oracle. The database company is now officially in the hardware business after announcing that it has purchased Sun Microsystems for $7.4 Billion USD:
Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle will buy Sun shares for $9.50 each in cash. The price represents a 42-per-cent premium to Sun’s Friday closing stock price of $6.69. Net of Sun’s cash and debt, the transaction is valued at $5.6-billion, Oracle said.
So, why would a database company buy a server company? There are two reasons according to this Oracle press release:
There are substantial long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris. Java is one of the computer industry’s best-known brands and most widely deployed technologies, and it is the most important software Oracle has ever acquired. Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle’s fastest growing business, is built on top of Sun’s Java language and software. Oracle can now ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community.
The Sun Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database, Oracle’s largest business, and has been for a long time. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimize the Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris. Oracle is as committed as ever to Linux and other open platforms and will continue to support and enhance our strong industry partnerships.
This deal is likely to not face the same amount of poking and prodding by US Anti-Trust Regulators that a proposed IBM/Sun merger would likely have faced. My only question is this: What happens to MySQL as to some degree it competes against some Oracle products? Thoughts?
April 20, 2009 at 9:02 am
Say goodbye to MySQL, and hello to PostgreSQL!
http://www.postgresql.org/
April 20, 2009 at 11:09 am
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April 20, 2009 at 7:05 pm
A survey conducted by Citigroup amongst major institutional investors provided the following insight on todays markets:
The favored sector is Tech and this sector has held the top position over the last 12 months. Growth stocks are also a hot item of late, the market sees the economy in a more positive view for the second half ofthe year and this should bode well for growth stocks. An additional upside of 6% is expected from current market levels to the end of the year. The majority of this optimism is due to the market rally since March, investors believe the market has bottomed. Regardless of the expected drop (approximately 20%) in earnings this year, a common consensus is the rebound in 2010 will be in the double digits. I’m certain Oracle has this information in mind prior to its acquisition.