IBMにはそっぽ向かれてどうなることやらと思っていましたが、ついにOracleが買収を決めたようです。先週末(4/17)の終値は6.69ドルなので、1株9.5ドルは悪くないですね。
米Oracleは4月20日(現地時間)、米Sun Microsystemsの買収を発表した。
oracle.comのページはこれ。
On April 20, 2009, Oracle announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sun Microsystems (Sun).
sun.comのページはこれ(買収される側とはいえ、一応名前の順番をひっくり返してみるのねw)。
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 20, 2009 -- Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt.
Oracleは同じシリコンバレーの会社で社風が似ているでしょうし、これまでずっと戦略的パートナーだったのでなじみやすいのではないでしょうか。OracleがHWビジネスを始めるというのは驚きですが、色々と目算があるのでしょうね(一部ではクラウドというキーワードも聞かれますが)。HWの製品ラインにSunという名前が残ればよいけど、きっとOracle SPARC EnterpriseとかOracle Fireとかになっちゃうんでしょうね。
MySQLの行く末を案ずる記事はこれですかね(基本的には無くなっちゃうかもねということです)。OracleにとってMySQLをどうにでもできるというのは買収の利点のひとつでしょう。
The fear, though, is that Oracle will naturally want to channel customers toward the higher priced option. What's the incentive to continue to improve an open-source product that could compete with its flagship?
HWについては、FAQに以下のパラグラフがありますね。顧客の投資を守ると言ってはいるものの、SPARCはまじめにはやらないでしょうね。サーバとストレージにフォーカスするといってますが、他に何かHWってまだやってましたっけ？
What will Oracle do with Sun’s hardware business?
Oracle plans to grow the Sun hardware business after the closing, protecting Sun customers’ investments and ensuring the long-term viability of Sun products. Oracle also intends to focus the server and storage businesses on our common enterprise customers, where we believe we bring competitive advantage, relationships, and a track record of helping to reduce costs and complexity. Key to this strategy will be our plans to develop software-optimized hardware that integrates all of the enterprise components: hardware, database, middleware, and applications. After the closing, Oracle plans to be the only company that can engineer an integrated system where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.
HWはOracleライセンスのおまけですか…。HW、DB、MW、APの全部入りくださいという感じ。
One big question is what happens to the hardware division of Sun? Does Oracle actually give a rat's hindquarters about SPARC? Given that Marc Tremblay just went to MS last week, we would guess that the chip architects at Sun are furiously polishing up their resumes now. Then again, given the cost of an Oracle license, they could just throw in a free Niagara box with every license.
