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