A little birdie told me...

22 February 2006 - Oracle announces acquisition of JBoss for $430 million US. The deal closed earlier this week, I am told, and that the timing of the public announcement is to upstage BEA's quarterly earnings call. If you take a look at Stephen Shankland's piece, "BEA found JBoss acquisition too expensive", then you can understand why Oracle may have an axe to grind with BEA right now.

I've been asked by several people whether I think JBoss is worth $430 million US. All that matters is whether it's worth it to Oracle, and we'll find out next week. My initial estimates were closer to $350 million. If Marc can get close to half a billion dollars from Oracle, then good for him!

The real question is whether the Oracle acquisition will drive JBoss users to Geronimo. Oracle needs to approach this situation delicately.