WSJ: IBM in Talks to Acquire Sun Microsystems

Citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter," the WSJ said the deal could still collapse, but if completed it could occur as early as this week. The $6.5 billion in cash would be a 100% premium over Tuesday's closing price for Sun Microsystems.

At the time of this writing, Sun's stock is up nearly 63% at $8.10.

There are some synergies, including strong support by both Sun Microsystems and IBM for open-source software (an example would be that both support the OpenOffice suite of software, which IBM's Lotus Symphony is built upon).

On the other hand, company cultures couldn't be different. Sun Microsystems has a Silicon Valley culture, and I can tell you, from working for a different such company that was acquired by IBM, IBM sure doesn't (actually, I probably don't have to tell you; it should be self-evident).

Naturally any such acquisition would result in layoffs, just wonderful news in this recession.

However, the move would strengthen IBM's rank as the world's largest server maker. In 2008, according to IDC, IBM had 31.4% of the market, while HP was second with 29.5%, and Dell third with 11.6%. Sun ranked fourth, at 10.6%.

Naturally, neither company has commented on the rumor.