With IBM out, Oracle jumps in to buy Sun for $7.4 billion

SAN FRANCISCO — Oracle Corp. snapped up computer server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.4 billion Monday, trumping rival IBM Corp.'s attempt to buy one of Silicon Valley's best known — and most troubled — companies.

The deal would end Sun's 27-year history as Silicon Valley's brash independent and shake up the computing industry. It comes after a monthlong drama that entered its final chapter last week.

IBM had retracted an earlier buyout offer for Sun after the two sides couldn't agree on key details. Last Thursday, Sun reached out to longtime business ally Oracle to make a bid, two people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the talks were considered confidential.

Once Oracle entered the fray, Sun tried to turn up the heat on IBM, which resubmitted its previous offer, only to be outdone by Oracle's latest power play. Now Oracle, traditionally a business software maker, will be the company that tries to use Sun's assets to build a more comprehensive one-stop technology shop.

"With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle is now able to make all of the pieces of the technology stack fit together and work well," Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said during a Monday conference call.

The deal would give Oracle ownership of the Java programming language, which runs on more than 1 billion devices around the world. Oracle also would take charge of the Solaris operating system, which already has been a platform for much of Oracle's products.

It's far from Oracle's biggest acquisition during a four-year shopping spree that has cost more than $40 billion, but it may be the boldest. Oracle, a Redwood Shores, Calif.-based business software maker, will be branching more into data storage and computer hardware.

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO, predicted the combination will create a "systems and software powerhouse" that "redefines the industry, redrawing the boundaries that have frustrated the industry's ability to solve." Among other things, he predicted Oracle will be able to offer its customers simpler computing solutions at less expensive prices by drawing upon Sun's technology.

Oracle will pay $9.50 in cash for each Sun share. The price represents a 42 percent premium to Sun's closing stock price of $6.69 on Friday, and is about twice what Sun was trading for in March, before word leaked that IBM and Sun were in buyout negotiations. Net of Sun's cash and debt, the transaction is valued at $5.6 billion, Oracle said.