Valleywag: Oracle, bea

BEA has told its employees not to blog about ...

Owen Thomas — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:32:42 PST

BEA has told its employees not to blog about the software maker's impending merger with Oracle. For the record, we stand with BEA management on this one. BEA employees, why go through the trouble of blogging when you can just send us tips and let us take care of it for you? [Docu-Drama]

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry ...

Jordan Golson — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:28:48 PST

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry on Oracle's purchase of BEA Systems: "Contacts tell us that Oracle delayed giving yearly raises to its employees for a quarter to fund the acquisition, which indicates seriousness on Oracle's part to have the acquisition done." [Epicenter]

Oracle vs. BEA -- the 9-word version

Owen Thomas — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:00:27 PST

As we've chronicled, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has conducted a war of words with BEA in his protracted takeover fight, threatening to pull his $17-a-share bid or make a lower offer. BEA's board also said it would accept nothing lower than $21 a share. In the end, BEA sold for $19.375 a share. The Wall Street Journal's explanation? "Don't believe anything anyone says in a takeover fight." That sounds about right.

Oracle and Sun attack the stack

Owen Thomas — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:55:30 PST

Oracle has acquired BEA for $8.5 billion. Sun has acquired MySQL for $1 billion. These events are not coincidence. Oracle, which already makes a database, wants to add BEA's software on top of that database. Sun, which makes application servers and other software which connects to databases, wants to slip MySQL in underneath that layer. It all adds up to what geeks and software salesmen call a "stack," or a complete package of interconnecting programs.

The irony is that BEA rose to prominence on the notion that its application server would make things simpler for database buyers. Buy any database you'd like, and BEA's application server would connect to it. Likewise, MySQL grew as a cheaper, open-source alternative to databases from IBM and Oracle.

A database here, an application server there, a bit of open-source software on top of that all sounds nice in theory. It proved in practice to be a headache for the influential tech buyers at large corporations. One salesperson calling on them, one phone number to dial when things went wrong, it turns out, is what they really wanted.

The consolidation was inevitable, if perhaps a bit sad. The goal of the stack game is to make sure that your software is the layer on top — the one that matters to programmers, the one applications are designed for. BEA and MySQL both had grand ambitions in that regard. Those are now coming to an end. Sun and Oracle will no doubt make grand statements about how compatible their software is, how well their children play with others. Ignore those. The history of IT tells us those promises are false.

BEA Systems will share financials and other ...

Jordan Golson — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:43:17 PST

BEA Systems will share financials and other internal data with shareholder Carl Icahn in an attempt to convince him that BEA is worth more than the $17 per share that Oracle had offered in an unsolicited takeover bid. BEA has not filed a quarterly report with the SEC in over a year because of an investigation into possible backdating of stock options. [WSJ]

Oracle waits for BEA's self-esteem to deflate

Jordan Golson — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:37:09 PDT

Analysts believe that Oracle will still buy BEA ... eventually. However, since no "white knights" have stepped forward to make competing offers, the consensus is that the $17 offer Oracle initially made was too high a price. Carl Icahn, who owns 15 percent of BEA, wrote "I view your public declaration of a $21-per-share, 'take it or leave it' price as a management entrenchment tactic, not a negotiating technique" in an open letter to the BEA board. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison also seems to have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude towards BEA, having said nothing since Oracle's initial offer expired last week. "Now, both sides will probably stand back and stare at each other for a while," said one analyst. How unexciting.

Oracle has responded to yesterday's statement ...

Jordan Golson — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:47:44 PDT

Oracle has responded to yesterday's statement from BEA Systems that it was worth $21 per share. Larry Ellison's software empire had previously offered $17 per share in an unsolicited takeover bid. Oracle says $21 is an "impossibly high price" and "nobody would seriously consider paying that." Well, we saw that coming. So predictable, that Ellison. We look forward to more passive-aggressive statements issuing forth in the future. [Mercury News]

BEA Systems wants at least $21 a share from ...

Jordan Golson — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:10:42 PDT

BEA Systems wants at least $21 a share from Oracle — or anyone else who wants to buy them. That's a mere $4 per share more than Larry Ellison offered. Don't expect Ellison to just say "OK" to this. That would make him look weak and easily manipulated. And it was probably a bad move, since it essentially set a ceiling for what Ellison might offer — any more, and he'd look like he gave in to BEA's demands. We suspect, though, that the deal will get done at some point soon, once the two companies are done playing grabass. Oh, and Oracle rival SAP? Says they don't want BEA. Bitches just jealous. [Mercury News]

Larry Ellison is not used to getting rejected. ...

Owen Thomas — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:45:44 PDT

Larry Ellison is not used to getting rejected. After being spurned twice by BEA's board, Oracle is now threatening to withdraw its $17-a-share offer for the software maker on Sunday. The stock, however, is still trading above $17. Translation? Wall Street thinks Ellison is bluffing. [Tech trader Daily]

How Oracle trashes the companies it buys

Owen Thomas — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:25:48 PDT

A cautionary tale for BEA, the software company Larry Ellison is trying to add to his Oracle-housed collection: When Oracle's integration teams sweep through, they obliterate all traces of the prior company. Take, for example, Siebel, the sales-management software company Oracle gobbled up in 2005. Writes a tipster:

Our company just moved into the old Siebel campus in San Mateo, which has been empty since Oracle relocated the remaining employees. The only thing left of Siebel on the campus is shown in the attached photo.

What do you get when you combine ORCL and BEA?

Owen Thomas — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:53:40 PDT

Using the ticker symbols for Oracle and BEA Systems, a software company Oracle is trying to buy, as Scrabble pieces, venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky manages to spell "corbel," "cabler," and, well, "oracle." But we have a better use for "BEA" and "ORCL" — a new name for the merged companies which summarizes their software's incredible ability to put people to sleep.

"Boracle."

Larry Ellison seeks BEA to add to software collection

Owen Thomas — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:33:51 PDT

I'm beginning to think that tech mogul Larry Ellison collects software companies the way he buys car, yachts, and tracts of land: Not because he needs another one, but just because he wants to have more. His devilish $6.66 billion offer for BEA Systems is right in character. For years, BEA has been mentioned as an Oracle takeover target. Its core product line, WebLogic, acts as middleware connecting Web servers and databases. Databases, of course, are Oracle's bread and butter. But Oracle already has its own middleware. The attraction here, I suspect, is more BEA's customer base. As he's done with other software purchases like Hyperion and PeopleSoft, Ellison can slash BEA's costs, rein in new development, and collect the cash flow from software-licensing fees. Which may make BEA a more practical bauble than the rest — but a bauble nonetheless.