Sun to IBM: We'll talk if You Buy

Sun is feeling the heat.

It seems the microprocessor company is desperate to sell. Bloomberg today reports that the company has told IBM that it will resume talks if it makes a “stronger commitment” to close the deal. In other words, Sun doesn’t want any time wasters and the company is all for talking with IBM as long as it’s turkey they’re talking.

During the first week of April, IBM heightened takeover talks when it put forward a $9.55 per share or $7 billion offer for Sun. Citing people familiar with the discussions (and not authorized to speak publicly, oops), the NYT sources said the new agreement would restrict IBM’s ability to walk away from the deal.

IBM later reduced its offer from $9.55 per share to $9.40 on, following a legal review. This offer was then presented to Sun’s board and the board recoiled. While the offer was not rejected the right off the bat, reports say Sun wanted wanted certain guarantees that IBM considered “onerous.” Sun then said it would no longer abide by its exclusive negotiating agreement with IBM and the latter withdrew its offer completely.

Bloomberg cites people familiar with the matter as saying Sun is willing to breathe new life into old talks if IBM makes a stronger commitment to close the acquisition. It looks like Sun is getting desperate. When initial talks collapsed the media looked for a possible plan b for the struggling company and came up near empty handed. Sun analysts suggested that the best thing to do might be to sell some parts of the company but not others as it was unlikely any one company would want to buy the entire company, undesirables and all.