Looks like Sun Microsystems is open to renewing acquisition talks with International Business Machines (IBM) if the latter makes a stronger commitment to actually closing the deal, according to Bloomberg sources.
Earlier this month, discussions over a potential takeover broke down when IBM withdrew its earlier $7 billion bid to buy Sun.
Discussions have stalled, still according to the sources, and both companies are now waiting for the other to make a move.
The information provided by the two unnamed sources implies that Sun withdrew exclusive negotations with IBM because there were apparently no guarantees that they would ultimately stick with the takeover if the companies encountered barriers such as an antitrust review. So basically Sun is saying: if you’re going to talk the talk, you’d better be prepared to walk the walk.
Spokesmen from both companies declined to comment.
Meanwhile, other potential acquirers like Cisco Systems and HP are acting like their noses are bleeding, which means nothing has really changed since last week, except for the fact that acquisition talks between IBM and Sun have simply been delayed rather than blown off completely.
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I’m not welcoming this purchase, it can only end badly for Solaris and MySQL.
No Robin,
What Sun is saying is we tried the Jerry Yang tactic for holding out for a better offer. Unfortunately IBM called us on ou bluff. Now our stock is in freefall. Save our asses, please.
Haiyoooo Haiyooo…. Another no from IBM is gona push sun stock to go down to 0$ .
I read in some news that SUN CEO Jonathan Shwartz wants this acquisition to be happen where as SUN’s open source division head is against it. SUN really needs brand promotion and more industry participation programs. JavaOne conference should be localized to other countries. And SUN should launch developer recognition programs. There are hell of things to do first before going towards this silly acquisition stuff.
Tahir, would you just buy a ticket to SF like everybody else does and quit whining all over the intarweb that JavaOne should be moved to you?
MaggieL, I was saying this because Microsoft PDC also held in Pakistan. O yeah I am collecting $ if I can fly to SF for JavaOne
but it require huge….
Sun is a unique position to be a service company: they’re not trying to sell software licenses and can freely recommend non-free software. Even with hardware they make, half their line is generic x86 servers. Plus, they have a large group of very smart and experienced people to build on.
You mean Sun’s people are so smart and experienced that they can’t convince customers to pay diddly-squat for their products? Yes, Sun would make quite a unique service company – one that can’t even charge for its services.
This is a bad deal for IBM, if they get tied into a commitment to purchase even if the regulators force tough terms or divestiture of business as part of the deal.
If I were Sam, I would cool my jets for 6-9 months – Sun isn’t going anywhere soon.
Rather than selling Sun off to IBM, I’d rather see an acknowledgment that Sun’s outlived whatever usefulness it may have once had and instead shut down in an orderly manner.
Sell off the technology bits that may still have value in the market (Java to IBM or Oracle, parts of Solaris to Apple, other software to Red Hat, etc.), open-source the remaining unsold/unsellable bits, liquidate the assets, pay off the stockholders and call it a day.
This would also have the advantage of releasing a talented pool of developers and engineers out into the wild to spawn a new generation of start-ups, not unlike what happened when Netscape and Silicon Graphics imploded.
While we’re at it, can we do the same thing for Yahoo as well?
CNBC said this morning the deal was dead.
IBM doesn’t want Sun at any price. IBM is concerned over a anti-trust review by the Justice dept.
IBM got a chance to look under the hood, didn’t like what they saw and walked.
Maybe Sun will get a chance to put the dot in the dot com again?
Sun needs this to stay alive at this point, as its been a struggling company for years now.
CNCB said…
IBM doesn’t want Sun at any price. IBM is concerned over a anti-trust review by the Justice dept.
This is why the anti-trust law is an a$$hole.
Sun has done a ton for the industry and continues to innovate. NFS, Java, Solaris/Opensolaris, VirtualBox and ZFS. Not to mention they now own MySQL which runs the majority of your silly startups. They need to stick around and not get run into the ground by IBM, like everything else they take on.
No one is mentioning StorageTek, which was acquired by Sun for $4Bn a while back. I don’t know what StorageTek is worth these days, but they are one of IBM’s big competitors in storage, especially in tape robotics.
I think besides Java and ZFS Sun may have some hardware technology IBM would like
Note to Sun executives:
Reality check, Sun’s business model has not worked since the dot com bust. Stop living in a bubble and trying to take the easy way out by selling to IBM.
3 ways to save Sun:
1. new disruptive technology: I don’t see anything earth shattering on this front.
2. shed LOBs that are sucking $$: shed unprofitable HW lines and shift to providing more services.
3. chop off the head of the beast: GET RID OF ALL EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT! The have failed miserably for 8 years.
Sun can survive if they’re forced to choose option 3 and implement parts of 2. A new executive management, with a solid business background and a much smaller, leaner company can get thru tough times and stickaround for when the economy improves.
The problem is Sun doesn’t realize that Open source supports communism not capitalism. No wonder they are begging to be bought out by IBM. Lack of coherent business model anyone? EPIC FAIL…