back to article Antitrust-shy IBM closed to fresh Sun talks

So much for playing hardball: IBM is apparently not interested in resuming talks to purchase Sun Microsystems, following their recent break down. IBM is believed to be concerned about the level of scrutiny a potential acquisition of its smaller hardware and software rival might would draw from regulators. CNBC has reported …

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  1. amanfromMars Silver badge

    Hmmm. Unrequited Passion is a Pernicious Mate .

    Seems like a Perfect Opportunity for a Proxy Pirate Purchase/Board Appointment if Bride and Groom have their Hearts and Minds set on a Big Happy Family ..... now that everyone knows it is Grumpy Old Aunts and Uncles who would Deny Union and Intercourse.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    T3

    Just incase no one noticed but t3 has connections to Microsoft

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    More 8th-hand rumours...

    ...masquerading as fact. Srsly, couldn't you at least look at this in light of the recent high profile grilling of Wall St loudmouth and "investment guru" Jim Cramer as seen on The Daily Show?

    A salient excerpt, from the horse's mouth:

    "...I would, ah, create a, um, a level of activity beforehand to drive the futures...it doesn't take much money...I would encourage anyone...to do it, because it's legal, and it, ah, it's a very quick way to make money, and very satisfying. By the way, no-one else in the world would ever admit that, but I don't really care...I'm [just] not going to say it on TV...

    "Now, you can't foment, that's a violation of uh...you can't create yourself an impression that a stock's down...but you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it...that's the only sense I'd say it's illegal...

    "Yeah, Apple's very important to spread the rumour that, um, that, both Verizon and AT+T have decided they don't like the phone...it's a very easy one to do because also you want to spread the rumour that it's not going to be ready for Macworld...and this is very easy because the people who write about Apple want that story...and you can claim that its credible because you spoke to someone at Apple, and Apple is not going to comment..."

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Crazy Sun Execs

    Please buy our company.

    But don't run any of our projects.

    Let us pretend we are sill Sun and not a part of IBM.

  5. Pony Tail
    Stop

    Due Diligence = "wow Sun is a FCUKed up company"

    No thank you

    And you want $33M each for the loser CEO and the Joker chairman?

    Your software does not make money let alone profit.

    The only money to be made is in maintenance fees for hardware..that will make customers happy with the acquiring company

    STK, MySQL....where did all the good people go?

    You spend $3B on stock buy backs and the stock is in shambles?

    Next layoff day all the people who get RIF'd should stand out front and way white flags

  6. Kevin Hutchinson
    Happy

    Sunshine on a rainy day

    I see you in the darkness

    I see you in the light

    I see your eyes shining

    In through the night

    Make me feel, make me feel

    Like I belong

    Don't leave me, you won't leave me here

    All Alone

    Cast your eyes

    Like summer skies

    BLUE earth and the ocean

    Clearer than the skies, yeah!

    Sunshine on a rainy day (sunshine)

    Makes my soul, makes my soul drip, drip, drip away

    Sunshine on a rainy day (sunshine)

    Makes my soul, makes my soul drip, drip, drip away

  7. Justin Clements

    oh dear

    haven't we been here before with Yahoo! and Microsoft? the under dog playing hard ball and the suitor saying "look - fuck the hell off would you, you greedy bastards, we said take it or leave it, not drag this out for eternity". I may have paraphrased.

  8. Jim
    Coat

    Baggage

    Part of this may be due to all the legal baggage associated with Sun's software which dates back to AT&T Unix in the 1970s. (The licensing issues predate Sun's founding.)

    While I think it would be a win for IBM to gain control of Java given their WebSphere and Tivoli products that are so heavily rooted in Java tech, perhaps they are waiting for someone else to take the bait, break up and spin off Sun's assets, and then move in to pick up the pieces they want.

    IBM doesn't need to buy Sun to get a piece of the server market, they already support both HP and Sun servers. IBM will sell and support anything that makes a profit even if it's produced by a competitor.

    What they choose to buy, however, is a bit more selective. Sometimes you don't have to buy the whole box of candy just to get the piece with the cherry. Somehow I rather suspect this may be the motive here, not fear of monopoly status which IBM very nearly already has if you look at their market share.

    Putting on my coat because IBM seems to be putting on theirs.

  9. Rex Alfie Lee
    Thumb Down

    Silly IBM

    The critiques will do nothing to hurt IBM if IBM were to go the extra mile & suck Sun into their atmos, basically removing all remnants of Sun. Why should they? They never did anything to hurt M$ when they were being sued for their monopolistic behaviour. They got away scot-free.

    Move everything to Linux & open-source & you'll be fine as long as M$ doesn't tell.

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