Oracle ($ORCL) To Acquire Sun ($JAVA)
10 days ago we made the argument that the withdrawl of the IBM ($IBM) acquistion offer for Sun ($JAVA) was a problem for $JAVA shareholders. The heading for the post was “Sun ($JAVA) needs IBM ($IBM)“. The basis of our analysis was that the IBM acquisition offer looked much better than Sun as a standalone business.
It looks like we were half right – the important half. Today Oracle ($ORCL) announced the acquisition of Sun ($JAVA) at US$9.50 a share – just above the revised $IBM offer of US$9.40 a share. Sun did not need IBM because of Oracle. The logic of being acquired in the board price range was still compelling.
$JAVA has found an acquirer and this still looks a higher value option for $JAVA shareholders than remaining an independent company. This is a good result for $JAVA shareholders.
Disclosure: None