The Inquisitr » ibm

Sorry, IBM: Oracle Buys Sun Microsystems

JR — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:07:12 +0000

Following broken-down talks for a buyout by IBM (IBM), Sun Microsystems (JAVA) has now agreed to an acquisition by Oracle (ORCL). The deal is expected to be finalized by the summer.

Oracle’s Sun Acquisition

Oracle will pay about $7.1 billion for Sun. That comes out to $9.50 a share — more than IBM’s $9.40 a share offer last month. Altogether, the transaction is valued at $5.6 billion, taking into account various debts. Sun’s board has given unanimous approval for the deal. It still requires a shareholder sign-off, however, as well as regulatory approval to go through.

Oracle and Sun have been partners for more than 20 years, with Oracle’s Fusion Middleware being built on Sun’s Java protocol and its database business using Sun’s Solaris operating system.

Oracle execs believe the deal will add a minimum of 15 cents a share to the company’s earnings, a projected gain of $1.5 billion in the first year. Already, Sun’s shares were up 36 percent in premarket trading. Oracle’s shares dropped 4.5 percent, while IBM went down by only about 1 percent.

Oracle-Sun Acquisition Analysis

The following Bloomberg video features more analysis on the Oracle-Sun acquisition and what it could mean for the market.

Oracle

Sun Microsystems

IBM

Cloudy days: IBM’s $7 billion takeover of Sun withdrawn

Duncan Riley — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:26:47 +0000

IBM has withdrawn its $7 billion takeover offer for Sun Microsystems after the Sun board balked at a reduced offer.

According to the New York Times, IBM shaved its offer Saturday from $9.55 a share to $9.40 a share after issues rose in due-diligence. The Sun board did not reject the offer, but wanted certain guarantees that IBM considered onerous. Sun is also said to have told IBM that it would no longer abide by its exclusive negotiating agreement, forcing IBM’s hand.

Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) stocks closed at $8.49 Friday, up from a 52 week low of $2.60. The stock traded at $4.97 prior to the takeover offered being disclosed, and may well return to similar levels when trading opens in New York on Monday.

IBM Layoffs: 5000 US workers to go, jobs shifting to India

Duncan Riley — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:50:18 +0000

IBM is planning to announce a new round of layoffs, with 5,000 US based workers being cut in favor of shifting some of the work to India.

The new round of layoffs, expected to be formally announced Thursday, represent about 4% of IBM’s US based workforce of approx. 115,000 people, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is the second round of cuts this year for IBM, having cut thousands of jobs back in January.

The controversial aspect will be the offshoring; IBM has a big presence in India and has previously replaced US workers with workers based in India who demand far lower wages. It’s believed that many of the jobs being cut this week will also shift to India, although the exact number isn’t known.

(img: Businessweek)

Report: IBM Looking to Acquire Sun Microsystems

JR — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:42:00 +0000

IBM is moving toward a takeover of Sun Microsystems, according to sources quoted by The Wall Street Journal today. The Journal says IBM is already “in talks” to acquire Sun and could reach a deal as early as this week.

IBM Sun Takeover

If an IBM-Sun takeover happens, it could come at a price of $6.5 billion, the unnamed insiders are quoted as saying. That’d be a massive premium over Sun’s $4.97-a-share closing price Tuesday evening.

IBM may not be the only company in the runnings, though: Sun is said to have informally chatted with numerous other companies about a possible purchase.

Adding credit to the idea is a separate report in The New York Times today, citing another source as saying a near-$7 billion IBM-Sun deal is on the way. The merger, The Times also points out, could face an antitrust challenge before its completion.

IBM currently has roughly double the annual research and development budget as Sun. Sun has approximately 1 million software developers writing applications on its platforms, compared to IBM’s stated 8 million. Sun also owns MySQL, an open source business for which it paid $1 billion back in 2008.

Sun has been financially unsound for some time, though. An IBM takeover would mark the largest-ever deal pulled off by International Business Machines.

IBM

Sun Microsystems

The 20 Most Trusted Companies For Privacy

JR — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:40:26 +0000

The Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe have released their annual list of the most trusted companies when it comes to consumer privacy. The list features the addition of Facebook into the top ranks, and the conspicuous absence of Google, which had ranked #10 in 2007.

The list is the result of a nationwide survey of nearly 6,500 U.S. adults. The participants were asked which companies they thought best safeguarded their personal information.

Coming in top for the second consecutive year was American Express, followed by eBay, IBM, and Amazon. Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, and HP all saw improved rankings from 2007 as well.

Here’s the full top 20 and how much they climbed/slipped from last year:

1. American Express (remained number one)
2. eBay (+6)
3. IBM (no change)
4. Amazon (+1)
5. Johnson & Johnson (+1)
6. Hewlett Packard (+10)
6. U.S. Postal Service (+1)
7. Procter & Gamble (+2)
8. Apple (new to the top 20)
9. Nationwide (remained the same)
10. Charles Schwab (-8)
11. USAA (+4)
12. Intuit (+7)
13. WebMD (-1)
14. Yahoo! (new to the top 20)
15. Facebook (new to the top 20)
16. Disney (-1)
16. AOL (-12)
17. Verizon (new to the top 20)
18. FedEx (new to the top 20)
19. US Bank (-2)
20. Dell (-7)
20. eLoan (-9)

Even old dogs like IBM can learn new tricks

Steven Hodson — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:50:56 +0000

What is usually the first company that comes to mind when you are talking about the old guard of computer technology?

For most of us it would probably be companies like DEC, Microsoft, Oracle or IBM affectionately known as Big Blue. For the younger generation these would probably be dinosaurs since for them anything before last month’s newest startup would be considered old.

This new generation who tout the powers of things like social media, blogging and Twittering as the greatest thing to happen since .. well since Microsoft got slapped by the DoJ look upon the relics of the industry as leftovers who will never be able to make it in this new world. Unfortunately they could be in for a really big shock because some of these so-called relics are coming out of their slumber and they are proving that they can be just as hungry and these little upstarts littering the cyber landscape.

Such is the case of Big Blue; or for you youngsters out ther – IBM. Even though they are laden down with legacy crap like Lotus Notes they are beginning to make some very serious moves into the … are you youngsters sitting down? … into the social media field. they are doing this in any small way either. Yes they have have many employees who have been blogging and the such for some time but recently they launched a corporate backed blog called The Greater IBM Connection which is a group blog effort of a bunch of really smart people at IBM.

It was on this blog that IBM announced a new initiative called Smarter Planet for which they will be utilizing the Tumblr platform

I wanted to share a quick link to a new site focused on IBM’s exciting new Smarter Planet initiative.

We’re trying out an innovative service called Tumblr that is a very easy way to share links, quotes, videos, images, audio and other content, a sort of spontaneous form that the creators call a “tumblelog.” You can check it out here:

http://smarterplanet.tumblr.com/

The goal to highlight the many different ways that this smarter world is emerging in areas such as intelligent energy grids, transportation systems, healthcare and the environment, to name a few.

However they aren’t just stopping there either for they have set up a Smarter Planet room on FriendFeed. All this from a company that I would bet most of the Web 2.0 upstarts have written off as a leftover from a day gone by.

Well if there is a lesson you should be learning from this it is never ever count us old timers out cause we could just come back to bite you on the ass as we move pass you in the incredible technology race we are all a part of.

No related posts.

IBM launches business social networking tool Bluehouse

Duncan Riley — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:11:37 +0000

IBM has opened access to Bluehouse, a “Facebook for business” service based on IBM’s Lotus Foundations.

Bluehouse offers regular social networking tools, tailored to corporate use, including web conferencing, instant messaging, document sharing, directory, profiles, all delivered via the web.

Sean Poulley, vice president of IBM’s online collaboration services told Computerworld that “Bluehouse will allow people to quickly create a collaborative space, but unlike Facebook it has management features to ensure privacy and other controls that businesses want.”

The significance in a broader sense is IBM’s focus on Bluehouse as a “cloud utility.” IDC Analyst Frank Gens said that “Our view is that being able to provide software offerings through a cloud services model is the foundation for new growth for the industry…Bluehouse is Lotus moving much, if not most of what they do in a traditional software model, and putting it right out there in the cloud.”

Bluehouse will be offered for free during a testing period, with a subscription model to be implemented at a future date.

(thx to Mona for the tip)

VBusiness Expo Is Talking Virtual Worlds

Duncan Riley — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:31:01 +0000

VBusiness Expo is a regular virtual conference dedicated to corporate opportunities in virtual spaces run by Nick Wilson’s Clever Zebra.

The event is entirely hosted within virtual worlds (mostly Second Life), and brings together thought leaders and innovators from across the physical globe to discuss how virtual world technologies are being used in business. Over 170 companies and 511 people attended the first Expo in April, with leading companies such as Sun, IBM, Kelly Services and Gartner speaking on how virtual worlds are changing business.

The next vBusiness Expo is being held July the 29th to August 1st 2008. Attendees can expect to hear from companies “who have experimented in virtual worlds, discover the practical uses and opportunities available to them today, and how to take their first steps into the emergent 3D web.” Interesting content and a serious take on the opportunities virtual worlds provide.

IBM Readies New Mashup Utility

JR — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:11:46 +0000

IBM is preparing to venture into the world of Web 2.0 customization with its first full-release mashup utility.

The appropriately titled IBM Mashup Center will debut as a web-based program with a free trial. IBM claims anyone from corporations to “non-technical users” will be able to easily manage information with the software.

Mashup Center has been under beta status for about a month, with Boeing on-board as one of the initial testers. The public trial version is expected to launch at IBM’s Lotus Greenhouse site sometime in the next few weeks.