Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Sun Microsystems

Loutskina, Elena, ...

Case

Sun Microsystems

Loutskina, Elena; Varney, Eric

F-1630 | Published December 6, 2010 | 22 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case is designed for use in Corporate Finance courses at the MBA level or in an advanced undergraduate Valuation class. The primary objective of this exercise is to introduce or reinforce valuation tools in the context of mergers and acquisitions. A teaching note and student spreadsheet accompany this case. This case is written from the perspective of a member of Oracle's valuation team during Oracle's bid to acquire Sun Microsystems in 2009. Sun was an industry leader in the IT sector, and it had many suitors, including IBM. Oracle had distinguished itself as the world’s largest and most reputable sellers of database management systems and other related software, and it had recently acquired several low-margin companies and turned them into higher-margin operations. Combining Sun and Oracle had the potential to create the Wal-Mart of the enterprise software industry. Supplemental student and faculty spreadsheets are available to verified users.