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Ballmer, IBM Surprised By Oracle-Sun Deal

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-didn't-see-it-coming dept.

Geon Lasli writes "Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for US$7.4 billion. Ballmer was at a loss for words: 'I need to think about it. I am very surprised.' According to a source, IBM hadn't given up on purchasing Sun and was blindsided by Oracle's move. I guess IBM must be regretting playing tough 2 weeks ago. Unknown to outsiders, Sun had probably found the Oracle lifeboat before they decided to pull the plug on the deal."

5 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. It speaks volumes that they were caught out... by GPLDAN · · Score: 4, Informative

    That Ballmer had no prepared spin is amazing.

    There was an article published online several months ago explaining why Oracle and Sun were a good fit. All of Oracle's application server architecture is built around Java. J2EE rules the Oracle roost. Oracle will pull the plug on selling servers, they wanted Java and Solaris. Solaris gives them SIGNIFICANT leverage over Redhat when working deals for large installs of Oracle. They can bundle a complete solution, even down to the hardware and lock EVERYONE else out of big deals.

    Lots of analysts saw this as a possible deal, and McNealy was extremely arrogant in walking away from IBM so you had to figure something was up.

    Sounds like the brass at Microsoft is suffering brain drain of its own. I bet Schmidt over at Google already knew exactly what was going to happen.

    Old and slow Ballmer.... old and slow...



    ...developers, developers, developers, developers.....ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. Uh, no by afabbro · · Score: 5, Informative

    I guess IBM must be regretting

    I don't think so, since they indicated that after deeper examination and further consideration, they weren't interested in Sun at any price.

    --
    Advice: on VPS providers
  3. Re:counter offer? by BrainInAJar · · Score: 4, Informative

    No... "definitive agreement" means that bidding is done.

    Oracle offered, Sun accepted.

  4. Re:Ummmm by rackserverdeals · · Score: 4, Informative

    "all reports I've read in the press indicate that Oracle has been handling the mergers very well."

    *cough*peoplesoft fiasco*cough*

    I'm talking post merger. Merger might not be the right word in that case. It was pretty much a hostile takeover with Peoplesoft kicking and screaming as well as legal battles to get it done.

    But a year after the Oracle Peoplesoft merger things seemed to be going smoothly.

    Even now, years later, while they've been working on consolidating the PeopleSoft and JD Edwards products, they haven't abandoned support for the legacy systems people are using.

    --
    Dual Opteron < $600
  5. Re:or not by DragonWriter · · Score: 4, Informative

    By buying Sun, Oracle also gets a hardware operation. But Oracle has no experience in the hardware business.

    But Sun does. And, you know, all those people who work for Sun and constitute that experience are, when the deal is complete, Oracle employees, Oracle just needs to keep them and leverage their experience. This isn't entirely unheard of in acquisitions -- you acquire a firm that has experience you want, and then keep the people with the experience in a position to make use of it. Its not always just about acquiring an IP portfolio. Heck, sometimes its as much about acquiring the people and their experience as the IP portfolio. Two notable examples of this are acquisitions of Steve Jobs-run firms -- Apple's acquisition of NeXT and Disney's acquisition of Pixar.