Oracle, Sun, High-Profile Mergers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

When I was at the FCC , the AOL/TW merger was on the plate  I thought  
then that it was doomed. I too , unfortunately, was right. Oh well. djf


Begin forwarded message:

From: "Jonathan B Spira" <jspira () basex com>
Date: April 21, 2009 10:00:41 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Oracle, Sun, High-Profile Mergers


Dave, hi and good morning!

For some reason, this deal more conjures up deals such as Daimler-Benz/ 
Chrysler and Time-Warner/AOL rather  than, say, H-P/EDS.

I hope that everyone at Sun and Oracle has read up on what missteps  
other companies have taken along similar paths.  Because Daimler-Benz  
and Chrysler were, in 1998, fairly successful companies (Chrysler was  
the most profitable U.S. automaker at the time), most pundits thought  
the deal would succeed, especially since it was advertised as a  
"merger of equals."  [At the time, I had written that the tremendous  
differences in management styles  (Chrysler was far more open and  
relaxed, while Daimler-Benz was very formal and structured), plus very  
different views on such matters as salary and travel expenses) would  
lead to disaster and, unfortunately, I was correct.]  It soon became  
apparent to all that the German company was taking complete control  
and we know the rest of the story.

I'm sure everyone reading IP knows the story behind Time-Warner/AOL by  
now as well.

Additional thoughts on the Oracle-Sun deal are at 
http://www.basexblog.com/2009/04/20/disruption-in-the-tech-sector-oracle-to-acquire-sun-for-74-billion/

Incidentally, I was going through a 1997 piece I wrote on the state of  
the tech sector and noticed I posed the following question:
         "Does Oracle envision a world of Oracle hardware (NCs)  
running Oracle software?"

Granted, this was relative to NCs but ...

Regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Szívélyes üdvözlet/Cordialement/ 
Cordiali saluti/Saludos/Vänliga hälsningar

/s/ Jonathan
Jonathan B. Spira
CEO and Chief Analyst
Basex, Inc.
8 http://www.basex.com







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