

Oracle Calls Out Autonomy CEO - sutro
http://oracle.com/PleaseBuyAutonomy

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mikeryan
Back Story (since I apparently missed it)

HP is buying Autonomy for 10+B. Many analysts feel this is over priced, and on
Oracle's earnings call Larry Ellison couldn't help but get a jab in at HP by
saying that they (Mark Hurd ironically) told Autonomy they were overpriced at
their current 6+B Market Cap when Autonomy went to Oracle looking for a
suitor.

Autonomy CEO then said "WTF we never talked to Oracle about being purchased".

Then this.

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smoyer
Thanks ... Though it appears the real story is that the sandbox isn't big for
both of them and now they're throwing sand in each other's eyes.

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joezydeco
I see it more as Mark Hurd's way of giving the HP board of directors a huge
middle finger.

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eftpotrm
I forget where, but I once read an article suggesting that one of the big
problems Microsoft has faced in the past 10 years is that, after the DoJ suit
and the ruling of it as an abusive monopoly by Judge Jackson, they missed out
on a lot of good new developers simply because they didn't want to work for
that sort of company.

I don't think my opinions of Larry Ellison had been high for some time, but
recent actions and publishing this sort of press release hardly raises them.
Perhaps this will be the final downfall of Oracle; that their reputation in
the tech community so precedes them that they run out of willing labour and /
or partners?

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CaptainZapp
While I agree with your general assessment I disagree with your conclusion.

See, Oracle is not (and never was) a technology company. They are a huge
marketing and sales organisation that happens to dabble in technology
products.

The carnage of Sun top engineers after the takeover should tell us something.

That said, I think it's a dumb, childish and immature move.

2 Minutes of LOL and gufaw! As a believer in kharma (in the metaphorical
sense) I think that will come back and bite.Messrs. Hurd and Ellison.

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DrJokepu
This is incredibly juvenile and unprofessional. Start acting like grownups.

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5hoom
Agreed. This is a really weird press release for Oracle to serve from their
flagship website. Even the Notch v Bethesda back & forth was orders of
magnitude more civil…

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JonnieCache
I for one would pay double to witness an Ellison vs. Lynch q3a showdown.

~~~
castewart
This! We'll watch it on Chill.com and serve e-popcorn

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forgotAgain
Possible scenario for Oracle actions:

A) ridicule HP into dropping Autonomy bid

B) because of A the stock price of HP drops significantly

C) Oracle buys HP

D) Mark Hurd gets his HP executive washroom key back.

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toyg
What about this? (not a joke) A) ridicule HP into dropping Autonomy bid B)
because of A, the stock price of Autonomy crashes C) Oracle buys Autonomy D)
Mike Lynch gets fired

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phillmv
The most interesting thing about this story is just how poor that Powerpoint
presentation is.

It's professionally put together, but if I someone tried to use these as
_slides_ during a presentation I'd want to tear my eyes out.

~~~
bennylope
It's classic consulting/finance style, typically meant to be read as a
document (a "leave behind") rather than presented on a screen.

This does not stop consultants from presenting such decks. And yes, those
presentations will make you want to tear your eyes out.

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haasted
Other HN discussion on the same topic :
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3051366>

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X-Istence
If only Mr. Lynch had just come out and said, "yes, we also went to Oracle to
see if they might be interested". Then he would have had much less trouble =)

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marcf
Why does Oracle care so much about this? Autonomy shopped themselves around
and Oracle turned them down. Now Oracle wants to hurt Autonomy because a
competitor bought them. I guess all is fair in M&A, but this just seems like a
stupid spat.

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reefab
I'm guessing it's mostly Mark Hurd (Oracle president and ex-HP CEO) trying to
look good by pointing out that he did refuse to buy Autonomy because the price
he was discussing with them was overpriced in his opinion whereas HP bought
them for almost twice the price.

It's basically Mark Hurd getting back at HP in the most pathetic way I've ever
seen.

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headbiznatch
The funniest part of the press release for me is the "About Oracle" section:

"Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's most complete, open, and integrated
business software and hardware systems company."

Put it on every release, it will become true? Or something?

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MaysonL
Of course, if you look at the other side of the story, Oracle is said to be
tossing lots of BS here.

See: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/29/autonomy-
orac...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/29/autonomy-oracle)

Slides prepared by Qatalyst in January, meeting between Autonomy and Hurd as
an introduction, not a sales pitch.

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j_col
From the statement:

> Mr. Lynch then accused of Oracle of being ‘inaccurate’. Either Mr. Lynch has
> a very poor memory or he’s lying.

Wow, things are really getting dirty between Oracle, HP, and Autonomy. Wonder
will this affect HP's embattled share price further?

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tybris
It seems that things always get pretty dirty when Oracle is involved, but
maybe they're just being honest.

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protomyth
I pretty much expect this would be Oracle's response, they tend not to let
others have the last word on such things.

It is pretty interesting to me that during the SPARC SuperCluster event,
Ellison did not mention HP, but instead focussed heavily on IBM's server.

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goodweeds
It appears that Oracle has been taking PR lessons from Michael Arrington.

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freejack
I find it ridiculous that companies operating at this level waste their time
with things like this when they clearly have bigger issues on their hands. No
wonder Oracle is struggling if this is where they are focused.

~~~
amac
Is Oracle struggling? They certainly aren't struggling to make profit.

~~~
freejack
New software license sales and renewals are both down year-over-year as a
percentage of overall sales. It might just be a blip, but I read it as a
weakness in their core business. I think the size of the enterprise segment is
shrinking - as Andreesen pointed out recently, it was pretty common ten years
ago for startups to sink tons of cash into Oracle licenses. Nowadays, it
doesn't happen at all. Internet-scale is no longer equivalent to enterprise
scale, and less companies are buying Oracle as a result. Elsewhere, government
sales are slowing as a result of global fiscal restraint, which basically
leaves Fortune 500 to carry the water for Oracle. So yeah, "struggling" might
be a bit over-the-top, I certainly wouldn't be betting on Oracle as a breakout
story. They are probably a business in decline, and most likely to end up in a
similar spot as SGI, DEC and tons of other former enterprise powerhouses that
saw their core business diminished by the relentless commoditization that
comes with advances in technology.

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itswindy
_Andreesen pointed out recently, it was pretty common ten years ago for
startups to sink tons of cash into Oracle_

And Andreessen should be listened in this field because.... ? Serious
corporations go for IBM, Oracle, SAP and the likes. They want stability and
someone to show up and fix when things go wrong. Most of the 'startups' Marc
is talking about, will be not be here 5 years from now.

What was Marc's last good investment? Ning or Groupon?

~~~
mikeryan
Skype, Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Jawbone and Box.net are all in the Andreeson
Horowitz portfolio. He seems to be doing fine.

Of note, he's also on the HP board of directors

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itswindy
_Skype, Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Jawbone and Box.net are all in the Andreeson
Horowitz portfolio. He seems to be doing fine._

He bought FB way too late than most others. What valuation did he buy in
Zynga, Twitter etc than we'll talk? Jut because they're 'hot' now doesn't mean
that they'll make him money later.

