Planet-conquering Oracle bids for BEA

ORACLE WANTS to buy middleware giant BEA Systems in
one of the most-forecast deals since… well, since
Oracle bought Siebel Systems.

This deal would trump Siebel, based on the current
valuation of $6.6bn for BEA, sometimes dubbed as
provider of the operating system of the internet.

World+dog knows that Oracle has long been on the
mother, father and extended family of
merger-and-acquisition rips. BEA would be the biggest
of the lot barring the capture of PeopleSoft.

However, like the PeopleSoft buy, this one could be a
prolonged affair with no agreement in place as yet.
Still, don’t bet against Oracle closing the deal.

Who next for Oracle? Pretty much anybody in enterprise
software bar Microsoft and IBM is possible. Why not an
agreement with EMC with its complementary storage
capabilities and VMware pot of gold?

Nah, the problem there would be executive egos that
would make Earth look like Little Taddlecombe In The
Mud. µ