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Sun Loses Another $147M

No press release and certainly no conference call, only a SEC filing and a posting on its web site

By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
August 31, 2009 03:45 PM EDT
Reads:
 12,983

Sun tiptoed out its June results. No press release and certainly no conference call, only a SEC filing and a posting on its web site last Friday, covering what will probably be its last quarter as an independent company before it collapses into Oracle’s waiting arms – that is unless the European regulators screw it over.

The erstwhile high flyer lost another $147 million, 20 cents a share, with sales down 31% to $2.63 billion, more than the $2.37 billion financial analysts expected and towards the high end of Sun’s guidance.

This time last year it made $88 million, 11 cents a share, on revenues of $3.78 billion.

Revenue from servers in the June quarter, the end of its fiscal year, dropped 36% to $1.1 billion and support fell 15% to $886 million.

Its latest losses push its total losses for the year to $2.23 billion, some of which is blamed on the fact Sun had a lot of Wall Street customers.

Last year it made $403 million.

The AP added up the company’s losses since 2002 and they come to nasty $5.6 billion. Only 2007 and 2008 were profitable.

Sun’s going to Oracle for a generous $9.50 a share. Oracle wanted to close the deal by August 31. The European Commission should be heard from by September 3. It could ask for more information. US regulators have already waved the deal through.

Sun’s flagging server business, which IBM and HP have been attacking, has encouraged speculation that Oracle will sell off its hardware side although it has said it wants the servers to create Oracle appliances. Initially Oracle only bid for Sun’s software. Fortune speculates Oracle could sell the hardware to HP, which could use it to strengthen its EDS services. EDS has been one of Sun’s best customers.

Published August 31, 2009 – Reads 12,983
Copyright © 2009 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara

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