On Fri, 15 May 2009 22:36:18 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>>> It still doesn't make any sense to me though. Sun is multiple times
>>>> larger than Oracle - so how was Oracle able to buy them?
>>> Because Sun isn't as big as it used to be, and Oracle is bigger.
>> 
>> Also, look at the market caps for the two companies:
>> 
>> Oracle, based on stock price today, is $91.79 Billion.
>> 
>> Sun, based on stock price today, is $6.72 Billion.
>> 
>> IOW, Oracle's market cap is just over 13.5 times Sun's = another
>> measure that Oracle is much bigger than Sun.
> 
> Is this before or after the buyout was announced? ;-)

The purchase price was around the $6.72 billion, so before.  Mergers and 
acquisitions often mess with the stock price, but generally not very much 
- depending on whether the shareholders see it as a good thing or a bad 
thing.

> Besides, I was under the impression that a stock price is simply an
> arbitrary figure plucked out of thin air and having no particular
> relation to reality...

It's not "picked out of thin air", but based on what the market values 
the company at and the outstanding number of shares at any given time.

It's not particularly arbitrary.

Jim

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