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IBM, Sun Acquisition Deal Collapses

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 16 comments

The New York Times today reports that IBM has withdrawn its offer of $7 billion for Sun Microsystems.

Last week, talk of IBM’s Sun acquisition hit an all time high. With news that the latter was letting staff go in order to slim down for the buyout, and then reports that IBM was put forward a $9.50 per share or $7 billion offer. On Friday the New York Times reported that IBM was all set to fork out $7 billion for longtime rival, Sun. Citing people familiar with the discussions (and not authorized to speak publicly, oops), IBM was reportedly offering $9.50 a share, down from a bid of $10 a share. Sources said the new agreement would restrict IBM’s ability to walk away from the deal.

Yesterday the NYT reported that IBM had taken the $7 billion offer off the table. Apparently Sun’s board balked at the offer and IBM withdrew.

According to the Times, IBM reduced it’s offer from $9.55 per share to $9.40 on Saturday, following a legal review. The offer was then presented to Sun’s board on Saturday, and the board recoiled. While the offer was not rejected the right off the bat, the NYT reports that Sun wanted wanted certain guarantees that IBM considered “onerous.” Sun then said it would no longer abide by its exclusive negotiating agreement with IBM and on Sunday, IBM withdrew its offer completely.

The weekend’s events leave the fate of Sun hanging in the balance. While the company has opened itself up to other potential buyers, previous reports of the deal with IBM made it sound like a sure thing and it seems premature for Sun to have shunned the company during what would have been the final stages of a long sought after agreement.

Bloomberg reports that Sun shares slumped as much as 28 percent in European trading after the news. Sun’s shares rose more than 2 percent, to $8.21 last week following news of the $7 billion offer.

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  • 2 Hide
    eklipz330 , April 6, 2009 1:18 PM
    this is good, you can't just BUY the sun, ITS THE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE FOR GOD SAKES!
    than they would start charging for sunlight per hour, and gosh it would just be a terrible mess after that
  • 6 Hide
    Anonymous , April 6, 2009 1:19 PM
    good job yahoo...i mean sun.
  • 5 Hide
    igot1forya , April 6, 2009 2:04 PM
    aerjesrjsedrjgood job yahoo...i mean sun.


    LOL Exactly!
  • Display all 16 comments.
  • 3 Hide
    Greatwalrus , April 6, 2009 2:25 PM
    Noooo, I felt like IBM was the best chance to save Sun's products :(  (ie. Open source Open Office). But I guess it would be better if they would just not sell in the first place, unless they really need to.
  • 0 Hide
    squatchman , April 6, 2009 3:30 PM
    ah... damnit I should have shorted their stock. Look at that bastard fall.
  • 0 Hide
    Pei-chen , April 6, 2009 3:53 PM
    What ever happened to the Yahoo, MS deal anyway? Did Yahoo rejected MS's offer and have to settle for lower as expected?

    I think SUN is over its head if it thinks other company (read, Google) is going to come in and saves it.
  • 0 Hide
    kyeana , April 6, 2009 4:10 PM
    hmmm...wonder what happens to java from here
  • 1 Hide
    eddieroolz , April 6, 2009 4:44 PM
    I lost $200k in stocks! Virtual, of course...but still, $200k drop in one day! :( 
  • 2 Hide
    megamanx00 , April 6, 2009 4:59 PM
    The fools, fools I say. The unrealistic expectations of the board is one of the major reasons the company is in a downhill slide in the first place. They will be kicking themselves when they go bankrupt or someone buys the company for $5 a share.
  • 2 Hide
    Greatwalrus , April 6, 2009 5:27 PM
    megamanx00The fools, fools I say. The unrealistic expectations of the board is one of the major reasons the company is in a downhill slide in the first place. They will be kicking themselves when they go bankrupt or someone buys the company for $5 a share.


    Yep, I agree. Stupid decision, unless a miracle can happen for them - stocks are down 25% at the moment.
  • 1 Hide
    Greatwalrus , April 6, 2009 5:28 PM
    GreatWalrusYep, I agree. Stupid decision, unless a miracle can happen for them - stocks are down 25% at the moment.


    Sorry for the double post - but maybe this was IBM's plan all along - talk deals with IBM, then back out and watch the stock plummet. Then reconsider a deal for 25% less.
  • 0 Hide
    fuser , April 6, 2009 5:35 PM
    I think Microsoft should step in and buy Sun just to piss off the Java community.
  • 2 Hide
    JMcEntegart , April 6, 2009 5:36 PM
    GreatWalrusSorry for the double post - but maybe this was IBM's plan all along - talk deals with IBM, then back out and watch the stock plummet. Then reconsider a deal for 25% less.


    Deviously clever if that's the case. Hurt the competition and then buy them for way less...
  • 0 Hide
    jsloan , April 6, 2009 7:05 PM
    aerjesrjsedrjgood job yahoo...i mean sun.


    wow, greedy, they're nuts, this should have been brought up in front of their shareholders, they are not worth even near what ibm was offering them.
  • 0 Hide
    jsloan , April 6, 2009 7:19 PM
    fuserI think Microsoft should step in and buy Sun just to piss off the Java community.


    now that microsoft has .net i dont think it cares much about the java crowd.

    sure it would have been real fun, but it would have been waste of money, since most would not have stayed with microsoft, they would have bailed to ruby, some other vm. also, microsoft would then have to support all those other oses with it's java something i dont think it wants to do. and if it stopped supporting them and giving .net it would have undercut it's os something i dont think they want to do, then there are all those f*ck*n regulators in the eu who would cry to high heaven.

    actually they already did, a number of years ago microsoft paid couple billion to sun for the ability to use all past, present and future ideas, once you have that who cares... microsoft gets to create .net learning from java without fear of lawsuits...
  • 0 Hide
    salem80 , April 6, 2009 8:13 PM
    GreatWalrusSorry for the double post - but maybe this was IBM's plan all along - talk deals with IBM, then back out and watch the stock plummet. Then reconsider a deal for 25% less.

    the reason that Deal Collapses are Scott McNealy Sun chair man ..
    i think same thing that's said "megamanx00" will happen
    Sun can't go alone ...