Re: [GENERAL] Oracle buys Innobase

On 10/8/05, Thomas F. O'Connell <tfo(at)sitening(dot)com> wrote:
>
> All of which seems to beg the question: why did not MySQL buy
> Innobase themselves? As far as I've read, the terms of the
> transaction were not disclosed. I guess it's possible that MySQL
> didn't have the financial reach to pull off the deal.

Well, if I was Oracle and had a sneaky idea, I would *first* get
Innobase Oy under NDA, and *then* start acquisition talks...

Oracle has done enough business over the years to know that a bidding
war would have put them in a horrible position, possibly an
unrecoverable one. The somewhat muted reaction from MySQL leaves me
the impression that they were blindsided.

OTOH, this news doesn't exactly make MySQL look good, so it is also
natural for them to downplay the situation. Maybe they have had
contingency plans all along and just haven't progressed enough with
them to make any formal announcements.

-- Mitch, waiting for the movie, liking the idea of Danny DeVito
playing Larry Ellison