Sun rejects IBM buyout, IBM withdraws offer

[Qu0ll]

It's all over apparently.

--
And loving it,

-Qu0ll (Rare, not extinct)
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[Mark Space]

It's all over apparently.

An article in the San Fransisco Chronicle said that Sun had withdrawn
IBM's exclusive buyer status, and IBM had withdrawn their offer, but the
two companies were still talking.

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/02/state/n132642D55.DTL&tsp=1>

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

It's all over apparently.

You never know.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/05/technology/ibm_sun_talks_end.reut/index.htm

Either the talks or over or they are just playing hardball over the
price.

Arne

 

[Stefan Ram]

It's all over apparently.

Why does IBM actually have to talk with Sun?

Wouldn't it suffice, if IBM would buy the
stocks of Sun on the markets?

How can Sun »reject« this?

 

[Qu0ll]

Why does IBM actually have to talk with Sun?

Wouldn't it suffice, if IBM would buy the
stocks of Sun on the markets?

How can Sun »reject« this?

They can't really but that would be a straight buyout. I think Sun and IBM
were in discussions about a »merger«.

--
And loving it,

-Qu0ll (Rare, not extinct)
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
[Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me]

 

[Joshua Cranmer]

Wouldn't it suffice, if IBM would buy the
stocks of Sun on the markets?

Only if people were willing to sell stocks to give IBM a controlling
interest.

 

[Stefan Ram]

Only if people were willing to sell stocks to give IBM a controlling
interest.

I still do not understand it:

When Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun) and International Business
Machines Corporation (IBM) would agree that IBM will buy Sun,
can they force third parties to sell their stocks to IBM, then?

 

[jharby]

What could/would have happened to the Java platform if IBM had indeed
effected the buyout?
Would IBM have been able to leverage its position in the enterprise
market against Oracle/BEA
and how so?

 

[Lew]

Please do not top-post.

What could/would have happened to the Java platform if IBM had indeed
effected the buyout?

What is your opinion on this question?

My guess is that it would have changed somewhat and continued to be
viable to the degree that it satisfied the market need for a useful
software-development platform.

Would IBM have been able to leverage its position in the enterprise
market against Oracle/BEA

If not, it wouldn't be for lack of trying.

and how so?

Contact IBM marketing for an answer.

They likely will indicate that it will be through superior products
and top-notch customer service.

 

[jharby]

I'm thinking more in legal terms, could a company who acquired Sun
choose to privatize
and change the platform in such a way as to cripple the competition?
It'd probably be more
like "contact IBM Legal for an answer" I guess.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Why does IBM actually have to talk with Sun?

Wouldn't it suffice, if IBM would buy the
stocks of Sun on the markets?

How can Sun »reject« this?

It is a lot easier to to buy SUN from the company
than to try and find individual stockholders.

For confirmation call Kerkorian and ask him
about how it is to buy car manufacturers.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

They can't really but that would be a straight buyout. I think Sun and
IBM were in discussions about a »merger«.

I would call buying the company for a straight buyout and buying
stocks as a detour.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

I still do not understand it:

When Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun) and International Business
Machines Corporation (IBM) would agree that IBM will buy Sun,
can they force third parties to sell their stocks to IBM, then?

There are various ways of doing it.

Some companies has rules that can force all stockholders to
sell.

If the company consist of a public holding company and private
operating company, then the holding company can sell the operating
company for cash.

I have no idea about how the IBM-SUN deal were supposed to happen.

I am sure they have plenty of lawyers in the 1000 USD/hour class
to handle that.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

What could/would have happened to the Java platform if IBM had indeed
effected the buyout?
Would IBM have been able to leverage its position in the enterprise
market against Oracle/BEA
and how so?

The Java future are already in the hands of the JCP and SUN's reference
implementations are open source, so IBM could not do much.

IBM would own the Java trademarks and thereby making sure that
Microsoft did not buy them.

I think that is about it.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

I'm thinking more in legal terms, could a company who acquired Sun
choose to privatize
and change the platform in such a way as to cripple the competition?
It'd probably be more
like "contact IBM Legal for an answer" I guess.

SUN has already handed most stuff except the trademarks over to JCP
and open source projects.

Arne

 

[Lew]

I'm thinking more in legal terms, could a company who acquired Sun
choose to privatize
and change the platform in such a way as to cripple the competition?
It'd probably be more
like "contact IBM Legal for an answer" I guess.

Please do not top-post. Please.

Nor quote sigs.

 

[jharby]

What are you talking about?

I'm thinking more in legal terms, could a company who acquired Sun
choose to privatize
and change the platform in such a way as to cripple the competition?
It'd probably be more
like "contact IBM Legal for an answer" I guess.

Please do not top-post.  Please.

Nor quote sigs.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

What are you talking about?

If you insist on top-posting, please be more specific
about your question(s).

 

[RedGrittyBrick]

What are you talking about?

http://catb.org/jargon/html/T/top-post.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-posting#Top-posting
http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html

Most of the usenet newsgroups I follow have a strong preference for
inline posting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-posting#Inline_replying

Anything after newline hyphen hyphen space newline is a signature and
should be (by polite convention) removed from your reply. In other words
you should have removed the last three lines above this paragraph.

These are small acts of politeness that are customary in this newsgroup
and others. Small acts of politeness are appreciated by many active
participants. Nothing forces you to be polite, some choose not to be.
The consequences are what you would expect.

 

[jharby]

Ok, sorry. Thanks for the info.