Market Currents

• Today - Monday, November 30, 2009

• 14:26 PM Dana Blankenhorn at ZDNet can think of only one reason Larry Ellison (ORCL) is fighting so hard for MySQL (JAVA): to bury it. He explains Wall Street's aversion (with notable exceptions: GOOG, IBM, MSFT, RHT) to open source: "Wall Street has only one concept of value, namely something it can exploit, sell stock on, take fees on. Open source doesn't fit the mold, so Wall Street figures it's worthless." Comment!

• Tuesday, November 10, 2009

• 08:20 AM The U.S. Justice Department, which has already signed off on the ORCL/JAVA combo, reiterated that the merger is "unlikely to be anticompetitive." Oracle, meanwhile, said the acquisition "does not threaten to reduce competition in the slightest," adding that the EC's concerns "reveal a profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open source dynamics." Comment!
• 08:14 AM EU antitrust authorities formally object to Oracle's (ORCL) proposed $7.4B takeover of Sun Microsystems (JAVA) on concerns Oracle ownership of Sun's MySQL database software would reduce competition. The move doesn't necessarily mean the EU will reject the deal, but should delay the process. 1 Comment

• Monday, November 9, 2009

• 17:16 PM The EU's lobbing of red flags at Oracle's (ORCL) planned $7.4B takeover of Sun Microsystems (JAVA) is sowing doubt, pushing Sun's stock down after hours to 15% below the offer price. Oracle says it will "vigorously oppose" the EU's decision, but might it still bail out on the deal? And if so, what next? Comment!

• Thursday, November 5, 2009

• 14:00 PM After Oracle's (ORCL) withdrawal of a Russian antitrust filing and an increase in tension with EU regulators, Alphaville notes it'll be wise of shareholders to look closely at the caveats in the company's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems (JAVA) - whose shareholders are effectively blowing in the wind. Comment!

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 17:04 PM Oracle (ORCL) is bracing for formal EU objections to its $7.4B acquisition of Sun Microsystems (JAVA), after refusing to offer concessions to European regulators. One side could yet back down - or it could mean a lengthy legal fight once the EU specifies its issues. CEO Larry Ellison has said Oracle loses $100M each month that Europe stalls. (previously) 2 Comments

• Wednesday, October 21, 2009

• 11:08 AM Sun Microsystems (JAVA -1.1%) moves lower after reports the European Commission was disappointed with Oracle's (ORCL +0.3%) cooperation in its antitrust probe into the proposed $7.4B Oracle/Sun merger. "Oracle failed to produce, despite repeated requests, either hard evidence that there were no competition problems or a proposal for a remedy to the competition problems identified by the commission," a spokesman said. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, October 20, 2009

• 16:47 PM Sun Microsystems (JAVA) says it will cut 3,000 jobs - over 9% of its workforce - in the coming year, across all geographic areas, even as the company continues the process of being acquired by Oracle (ORCL). Comment!

• Thursday, October 8, 2009

• 07:44 AM The DoJ launches an investigation into whether IBM (IBM) is abusing its monopoly of the mainframe computer market. Trade group Computer and Communications Industry Association - backed by IBM rivals like Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL) - contends IBM stymied competition in the mainframe market and blocked competitors and potential partners from licensing its software. Comment!

• Wednesday, October 7, 2009

• 14:50 PM Always quotable Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison (fresh off his cloud computing rant) says despite speculation, he's not interested in acquiring Brocade (BRCD +2.3%), making Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) a more likely purchaser. Ellison says archrival Salesforce.com (CRM) "makes almost no money" but is allowing its CEO Marc Benioff to speak to Oracle's OpenWorld conference and potentially pick up some business. Comment!

• Monday, October 5, 2009

• 09:25 AM Brocade Communications (BRCD), which makes equipment that links computer networks to data-storage centers, has quietly put itself up for sale. H-P (HPQ), whose mounting rivalry with Cisco Systems (CSCO) has it scrambling to source parts for its ProCurve networking division, is a lead candidate. Other tire-kickers include Oracle (ORCL). BRCD +13.6% premarket. Comment!

• Tuesday, September 22, 2009

• 14:23 PM Oracle (ORCL -0.1%) chairman Larry Ellison says Sun Microsystems (JAVA -0.5%) is losing about $100M/month while EU regulators debate their merger, as rivals IBM (IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) poach Sun's customers amid uncertainty about its future. Yet another reason to question the wisdom of this combo. Comment!

• Wednesday, September 16, 2009

• 16:06 PM Oracle (ORCL): FQ1 EPS of $0.30 in-line. Revenue of $5.1B (-5%) vs. $5.3B. New software licenses of $1.03B. Operating margin up 570bp to 46%; reduced value of foreign currencies hurt EPS by $0.02. Shares -2.9% AH. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings after Wednesday's close: DBRN, ORCL Comment!

• Tuesday, September 15, 2009

• 08:24 AM The European Commission's reluctance to rubber-stamp Oracle's (ORCL) purchase of Sun Microsystems (JAVA) is largely due to the deal's implications for open source software - specifically MySQL. Comment!

• Thursday, September 3, 2009

• 09:43 AM European Commission puts the proposed Oracle (ORCL -1.1%) / Sun Microsystems (JAVA -2.2%) join-up on hold, citing 'serious doubts' about competition in the database sector if the world's leading proprietary database company were to take over the world's leading open source database company. U.S. regulators cleared the deal on Aug. 20. Comment!