What was the surprise deal that Oracle Corp. struck with Sun Microsystems Inc?
Oracle Corp. struck a surprise deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.38 billion, elbowing aside International Business Machines Corp. in the latest sign that a few well-heeled giants are exploiting the recession to snap up weaker players. Oracle, which has spent more than $30 billion buying software rivals in recent years, swung into action Thursday after talks between IBM and Sun had stalled, people familiar with the matter said. IBM still held out hope over the weekend that Sun would accept a bid from the big computer maker, these people said, but Sun’s board voted in favor of Oracle’s offer, which was viewed as less likely to face an antitrust challenge since there was little business overlap. Sources: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124022726514434703.
Oracle Corp. struck a surprise deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.38 billion, elbowing aside International Business Machines Corp. in the latest sign that a few well-heeled giants are exploiting the recession to snap up weaker players. View Interactive Track Sun’s share price since IBM bid for the company. Oracle, which has spent more than $30 billion buying software rivals in recent years, swung into action Thursday after talks between IBM and Sun had stalled, people familiar with the matter said. IBM still held out hope over the weekend that Sun would accept a bid from the big computer maker, these people said, but Sun’s board voted in favor of Oracle’s offer, which was viewed as less likely to face an antitrust challenge since there was little business overlap. IBM is highly unlikely to re-enter the bidding for Sun, said people familiar with the matter. After factoring in Sun’s cash and debt, the companies valued Oracle’s offer at about $5.6 billion. Sun shareholders will get
Oracle (ORCL.O) does not plan to offer any new remedies on top of proposals made earlier to EU competition regulators reviewing its plan to buy Sun Microsystems (JAVA.O), a source close to Oracle said. “Nothing is going to be proposed to the European Commission formally today. This is it. We are unilaterally telling our customers what we are going to do and that’s binding,” the source told Reuters on Monday. The U.S. software company had earlier on Thursday unveiled measures to ease competition concerns, prompting the Commission to say that their review of Oracle’s plan to buy Sun Microsystems would have a “satisfactory outcome Sources: http://www.reuters.
