IBM to Buy Canada's Cognos for $5B

(NEWSER) - Oracle Corp. has agreed to buy Sun Microsystems, swooping in after Sun’s talks with IBM fell apart. Oracle will pay $7.4 billion, or $9.50 a share for Sun, the Wall Street Journal reports, a 42% premium on Friday’s close. Though Sun has been losing money, Oracle expects the deal to tack $1.5 billion onto its profits in the first year, and called Sun’s Java platform “the most important software” it’s ever acquired. More»

Deal would let IBM rule Unix server market

(NEWSER) - IBM looks set to buy rival Sun Microsystems in a $7 billion deal that would make IBM king of the lucrative Unix server market, the New York Times reports. The $9.50-per-share agreement, already approved by IBM’s board, insiders say, could be announced today—though next week is more probable. Sun is a top seller of server computers and a big name in software, but it’s been in a decade-long slump. More»

IBM had a good Q4 and says its business services and software sales are solid

(NEWSER) - Strong software and business-services sales—including outsourcing services, a cash cow in the current economy—pushed IBM’s profits up 12% in the fourth quarter and prompted a recession-busting forecast of continued growth for 2009, reports the Wall Street Journal. Although Big Blue's revenue fell in the quarter, its margins continued to grow. More»

Despite a 30% jump in profits, investors worry the software maker is vulnerable

(NEWSER) - Oracle missed its third-quarter revenue projections yesterday and investor reaction was swift and dramatic: shares of the software maker dropped 8% in after-hours trading, reports the Wall Street Journal. This despite the fact that Oracle’s profits rose 30% to $1.34 billion, 26 cents per share, from $1.03 billion, 20 cents per share a year ago. Revenue rose 21% to $5.35 billion, short of analysts’ $5.42 billion expectations. More»

Oracle and Sun Microsystems may be only tip of the iceberg

(NEWSER) - Recent acquisitions by Sun Microsystems and Oracle could be the opening round of new Silicon Valley deal-making, the Wall Street Journal reports, as tech companies worried about a US economic slowdown seek to strengthen their positions. Smaller companies struggling to stay afloat are tempting targets; bigger fish also want to invest in building web-based software and services—a still-growing sector. More»