In a Vortex

In a vortex. That's the only way to describe the past thirty days, during which we closed out our second quarter, and put together the transaction to acquire MySQL. How'd it all start? "That'll never happen, I've been trying for years." That's what I told Rich Green (EVP, Software at Sun) about six months ago in response to his assertion, "if there were one company I'd love to acquire, it'd be MySQL. They're an amazing company." Why'd I say it was impossible? For nearly five years, I've been getting together for dinner with Marten Mickos, MySQL's CEO, catching up on the industry, chatting about trends and business models, and just as the dessert was about to be served... I'd say, "geez, we have so much in common, Marten, we see the world so similarly, what would you think about becoming a part of Sun?" At which point Marten would say he was flattered and honored, pour some milk into his coffee, stir, and start talking about Finland. "I still think it's worth trying," said Rich. So we did - Marten, Rich and I set up another dinner for early December. At which we went through the same great conversation, updating one another on what we saw in the market and industry, how much we had common, and just as dessert was showing up, I popped the question. And... ...smile, stir, we're talking about Finland again. So we leave the restaurant, talk about scheduling another dinner six months from now, and I look at R...

Date: January, 19 2008
Url: http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/in_a_vortex

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