Oracle buys Sun

[RPGWiZaRD]

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., April 20, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt. "We expect this acquisition to be accretive to Oracle's earnings by at least 15 cents on a non-GAAP basis in the first full year after closing. We estimate that the acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle's non-GAAP operating profit in the first year, increasing to over $2 billion in the second year. This would make the Sun acquisition more profitable in per share contribution in the first year than we had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined," said Oracle President Safra Catz.

Read more here (http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-oracle-buys-sun-/2009/04/20/4141169.htm).

I know the press release is available on Oracle's homepage but the link is currently experiencing "technical issues" at the time I'm posting this so posting another source. :p

[Mechromancer]

Uh oh. Oracle is entering into the CPU business! This will get interesting.

[Shintai]

I dont think its into the CPU business really. More into the OEM business with service contracts as the primary.

[RPGWiZaRD]

I dont think its into the CPU business really. More into the OEM business with service contracts as the primary.

Yea same here. CPU and Oracle just don't mix well...

Interesting news though, and 7.4B... didn't think Oracle had the resources and will to buy Sun at a time like this.

[W1zzard]

oracle gets a nice operating system, an amazing file system, a lot of sun customers are probably oracle customers too

[duploxxx]

I dont think its into the CPU business really. More into the OEM business with service contracts as the primary.

the world fame of shintai :cool:

read the words of ceo Larry Ellison.

combining the best Software with mission critical systems" Oracle will be the only one who can bring all in one integrated package". (marketing talk :) )

still sure about your intel only mind where sparc systems are non existing, dead and oracle did not buy SUN partially for its systems?


Yea same here. CPU and Oracle just don't mix well...


If oracle would adapt its licensing systems towards SUN multicore systems it would be a perfect match for speed and availability, now its just rather expensive with the multicore multiplier used by oracle.

[Katanai]

the world fame of shintai :cool:

read the words of ceo Larry Ellison.

combining the best Software with mission critical systems" Oracle will be the only one who can bring all in one integrated package". (marketing talk :) )

still sure about your intel only mind where sparc systems are non existing, dead and oracle did not buy SUN partially for its systems?



If oracle would adapt its licensing systems towards SUN multicore systems it would be a perfect match for speed and availability, now its just rather expensive with the multicore multiplier used by oracle.



Well actually this one time Shintai is right. Their prime interest was software and the existing customer base. At one time there were even talks of a combined buyout by Oracle and HP. Oracle would have got the software part and we the hardware. But that wouldn't have been such a good deal for any part involved...

[Radon]

Let's hope we don't have to fork all the Open Source Software from Sun once Oracle is in charge. Oracle was competing against MySQL for a long time.

They've got quite a list here (http://oss.oracle.com/) but a poor track record, like their Red Hat clone.

[naokaji]

Interesting news though, and 7.4B... didn't think Oracle had the resources and will to buy Sun at a time like this.

Sun was not doing too well recently, desperation to sell kept the price "affordable". If a Company manages to get some money somewhere this is the time to buy.

[xVeinx]

I want to see what happens to MySQL and Java, to see just how open source they stay. This could get really interesting in the database genre real quick.

[stevecs]

Didn't see this coming, though the comment on the amazing file system (presumably in reference to ZFS) is probably not correct as Oracle is the primary force in developing BTRFS (and considering ZFS hasn't really taken off).

I'm still scratching my head here though in what Oracle is really looking to gain for 7.4BN. That's a lot of scratch and could see it really hurting some deployment deals (right now oracle is pretty OS agnostic running on windows, solaris, linux, aix, an a couple others) this may change the deployment landscape some which would be interesting.

[xytrius]

I think that they are doing it to get Java and Solaris and kill mySQL. They were big into Object Databases a few years ago and even helped launched SQLJ, the road map then envisioned was Java [or an extension of it] eventually replacing SQL. They should get plenty of object technology and patents now. Larry Ellison also had spoken of the OS being “useless” for an enterprise database; he wanted Oracle DB to have its own kernel someday.

mySQL is already a favorite with medium sized business, and is beginning to make a serious dent in the enterprise. Oracle has good reason to kill mySQL (so did IBM). I’ll bet that they will eventually sell off Sun’s hardware technologies, integrate some version of Solaris into Oracle DB/ Oracle Financials and all the other enterprise software they make and offer a great little package: Look here - no need for an enterprise OS license, and we have such great applications!

[cirons]

Didn't Oracle purchase BEA (of jrockit fame) a while back, now they bought Sun. From a programmers perspective I'm curious if this has any impact on future jdk versions.

[hyc]

Yeah, I recall Ellison talking a lot about how most OSs just get in the way. And looking at the most prevalent OSs out there, he's right... It kinda makes sense for them to be pushing a new filesystem design, because at the end of the day people want to use traditional filesystem navigation tools to get to most of their data, not database queries. I could see them selling shrink-wrapped database-in-a-box servers, running stripped down kernels. (Perhaps just a hypervisor with OracleDB as the guest "OS"...) From that perspective the hardware OEM angle makes sense, but I don't think it makes sense to throw any more money into SPARC. SPARC implementations just aren't competitive; it would take an infusion of cash the size of AMD to bring SPARC up to a competitive level, and I think that money could be more profitably spent on anything else.

[railhan]

Yeah ... I'm curious how MySQL will fit in Oracle's products. I doubt that they will try/ be able to kill it but they might try to cripple it.

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

This, quite frankly, will suck for the open source movement.

I, ironically, was actually pulling for IBM to buy Sun...........but not by much.

[xVeinx]

This, quite frankly, will suck for the open source movement.

I, ironically, was actually pulling for IBM to buy Sun...........but not by much.

Yeah. IBM would have taken Java and made more of it than I think Oracle will. Solaris would have been killed off eventually, with things like dtrace, etc. being kept for other projects. MySQL would survive, but in a manner where it wouldn't compete with DB2 in any way.

I really don't understand how Oracle will be able to serve a very broad Java community, much less make something of the infrastructure and business of Sun. Yes, they can take out a low-level competitor in the database arena, and they bought a good number of customers. Is that worth 7.4 billion?

[Face]

Oracle published a FAQ page trying to answer some common questions about the acquisition implications.



Oracle/Sun deal FAQ: Hardware, MySQL, yes. HPC, Vis, Lustre? Who knows.

What will Oracle do with Sun’s hardware business?

Oracle plans to grow the Sun hardware business after the closing, protecting Sun customers’ investments and ensuring the long-term viability of Sun products. Oracle also intends to focus the server and storage businesses on our common enterprise customers, where we believe we bring competitive advantage, relationships, and a track record of helping to reduce costs and complexity.

What does Oracle plan to do with MySQL?

MySQL will be an addition to Oracle’s existing suite of database products, which already includes Oracle Database 11g, TimesTen, Berkeley DB open source database, and the open source transactional storage engine, InnoDB.


Complete FAQ : http://www.oracle.com/sun/sun-faq.pdf via insideHPC (http://insidehpc.com/2009/04/20/oraclesun-deal-faq-hardware-mysql-yes-hpc-vis-lustre-who-knows/)

[gumballguy]

The article below raises an interesting point that, regardless of some programs being open source, they are almost impossible to maintain when they are complex programs. Yes this acquisition could spell the eventual death of OpenOffice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/30/sun-oracle-openoffice

[Chad Boga]

:ROTF::ROTF::ROTF:

Sun Micro: We may have broken US anti-bribery law
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sun-Micro-may-have-broken-apf-15186764.html?.v=2

Sun Microsystems: We may have broken US anti-bribery law; Oracle says it knew before $7.4B bid

* Jordan Robertson, AP Technology Writer
* On Friday May 8, 2009, 6:45 pm EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Sun Microsystems Inc. may have broken anti-bribery laws with its actions in an unspecified location outside the United States, a revelation that would-be acquirer Oracle Corp. knew about before inking its $7.4 billion takeover deal.

It's unclear what Sun's admission Friday will mean for the company.

Sun said in a regulatory filing that it found "potential violations" of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. companies and companies whose stock is traded in the U.S. from bribing foreign government officials to drum up business.

Sun wouldn't say what happened or where it happened, only that it "took remedial action" and alerted the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, both of which are investigating.

If a violation is found, the punishment can range from a fine to criminal charges to even a ban on working with the U.S. government, a major source of Sun's revenue. Sun declined to comment beyond the filing.

Some cases have led to huge penalties, and legal experts say prosecution of corruption charges have accelerated as more business is being done globally.

In one of the biggest cases of its kind, Siemens AG agreed in December to pay more than $1 billion in fines in Germany and the U.S. to settle long-standing corruption charges, including that the Munich-based company bribed officials with suitcases stuffed with money to win government contracts.

In most cases, the punishments are much less severe. But all kinds of firms have been ensnared.

For example, in 2007, networking provider Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle charges that Lucent Technologies, before it was bought by Alcatel SA in 2006, illegally paid for hundreds of trips for Chinese officials to win contracts. In a separate case, IBM Corp. agreed in 2000 to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that its Argentina subsidiary was involved in bribing officials of a government-owned bank to win a contract to upgrade the bank's computer systems.

Oracle said in its own filing Friday that it learned of the possible violations before signing its agreement to buy Sun last month.

The deal is expected to close this summer and shouldn't face antitrust objections because the companies have very little overlap. A takeover by Sun's previous suitor, IBM, which Oracle beat out in bidding for Sun, would have been more complicated.

Oracle wants Sun because it's trying to assemble its own one-stop technology shop, similar to what IBM and HP have, to sell services, software and hardware.

Shares of Santa Clara-based Sun rose 3 cents to close at $9.13. Shares in Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, slipped 10 cents to close at $18.32.

[hecktic]

hahaha lol ... but they will look at this with a grain of salt and probably let it slide... who has time for these things in this kind of economy anyways?

and why is the article entitled "Sun Micro: We may have broken US anti-bribery law" does it imply Sun admits to its own wrongdoing lmao

[Chad Boga]

hahaha lol ... but they will look at this with a grain of salt and probably let it slide... who has time for these things in this kind of economy anyways?

and why is the article entitled "Sun Micro: We may have broken US anti-bribery law" does it imply Sun admits to its own wrongdoing lmao

Sun said in a regulatory filing that it found "potential violations" of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. companies and companies whose stock is traded in the U.S. from bribing foreign government officials to drum up business.