Economic Worries Propel Silicon Valley Deals

(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»

(NEWSER) - IBM withdrew a $7 billion offer to buy Sun Microsystems this weekend after Sun's board called the bid too low, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sun also worried that IBM sought too much leeway to walk away from the deal if antitrust regulators challenged the merger, insiders say. People expected Sun to fetch around $11 per share, but as the company demanded an ironclad deal, IBM's offer sank to $9.40 per share. More»

Deal for business software maker closes after Ellison bumps price

(NEWSER) - Business software maker Oracle continued its yearlong buying spree, closing a contentious deal with middleware maker BEA Systems after raising its offer to $8.5 billion, or $19.38 a share, Bloomberg reports. In October, Oracle offered BEA $6.7 billion, or $17 per share, and was rejected. Instead BEA, one of the Silicon Valley's last midsize independents, demanded what Oracle termed an "impossibly high" $21. More»

Chief exec was expected to step down after signals from Oracle CEO

(NEWSER) - Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz is going out in geeky style with a tweeted haiku resignation. Schwartz has been in the crosshairs publicly since the CEO of Oracle, which just acquired Sun, said last week that he expected Schwartz to step down, Mashable reports. “Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it,” he tweeted, before launching into his poetic offering. 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»